κόμη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Not explained with certainty. The word may be taken as "well-tended hair", in opposition of θρίξ (thríx, “hair”), and connected with κομέω (koméō, “to take care of, tend”). Schwyzer considers it a back-formation from κομάω (komáō, “to let the hair grow long”), which could be a by-form of κομέω (koméō). However, since κομάω (komáō) is always connected with hair and is never used in a different sense of "to care", and growing long hair is likely considered the opposite of caring for it, the assumption is not very probable. It has also been suggested as a Pre-Greek word with an element *ko- found in other branches of Indo-European and compared to Albanian qime (“thread of hair”).

The consonant choice in this word is also suggestive of a Semitic word, in Akkadian one has 𒋦 (qimmatum, “tuft of hair; mane, plume; crown, crest”), akin to Arabic قِمَّة (qimma, “crown, peak”), Amharic and Tigre ጋሜ (gamme, “a kind of straight haircut, clean-shaven save for a circumferential strip at the nethermost part”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kó.mɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈko.mi/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈko.mi/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈko.mi/

Noun

κόμη • (kómē) f (genitive κόμης); first declension

(collectively) hair of the head
Synonym: πλόκᾰμος (plókamos)
gill or branchia of the cuttlefish
(botany) foliage of trees
(astronomy) luminous tail of a comet

Declension

First declension of ἡ κόμη; τῆς κόμης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κόμη hē kómē	τὼ κόμᾱ tṑ kómā	αἱ κόμαι hai kómai
Genitive	τῆς κόμης tês kómēs	τοῖν κόμαιν toîn kómain	τῶν κομῶν tôn komôn
Dative	τῇ κόμῃ têi kómēi	τοῖν κόμαιν toîn kómain	ταῖς κόμαις taîs kómais
Accusative	τὴν κόμην tḕn kómēn	τὼ κόμᾱ tṑ kómā	τᾱ̀ς κόμᾱς tā̀s kómās
Vocative	κόμη kómē	κόμᾱ kómā	κόμαι kómai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

εὔκομος (eúkomos)
ἱππόκομος (hippókomos)
κομήεις (komḗeis)
κομήτης (komḗtēs)
κομᾰ́ω (komáō)
κόμῐον (kómion)
κομῐ́σκη (komískē)
πῠκνόκομον (puknókomon)
ὑψῐ́κομος (hupsíkomos)
χρῡσοκόμη (khrūsokómē)

Descendants

→ Latin: coma (see there for further descendants)

References

G2864 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible