νῆσος
Ancient Greek
Etymology
Uncertain. Has traditionally been connected with νήχω (nḗkhō, “I swim”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to flow, to swim”). If its meaning “island” has developed from a more original meaning “headland, cape”, it may be, like Proto-Germanic *nasją (“foothill; headland, cape”) and Bulgarian нос (nos, “nose; cape, promontory”), a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s (“nose”); in more landsman environments, compare the developments of Minaean 𐩱𐩬𐩰 (ʾnf, “wall of a city”) from “nose” and Arabic جَزِيرَة (jazīra, “island”) apparently from “bridge”. But in that case, the origin of -s-, which is not usually preserved in Greek, remains to be explained, possibly requiring a borrowing from another Indo-European language (Beekes and Furnée: Pre-Greek).
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /nɛ̂ː.sos/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈne̝.sos/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈni.sos/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈni.sos/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈni.sos/
Inflection
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ἡ νῆσος hē nêsos |
τὼ νήσω tṑ nḗsō |
αἱ νῆσοι hai nêsoi | ||||||||||
Genitive | τῆς νήσου tês nḗsou |
τοῖν νήσοιν toîn nḗsoin |
τῶν νήσων tôn nḗsōn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῇ νήσῳ têi nḗsōi |
τοῖν νήσοιν toîn nḗsoin |
ταῖς νήσοις taîs nḗsois | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὴν νῆσον tḕn nêson |
τὼ νήσω tṑ nḗsō |
τᾱ̀ς νήσους tā̀s nḗsous | ||||||||||
Vocative | νῆσε nêse |
νήσω nḗsō |
νῆσοι nêsoi | ||||||||||
Notes: |
|
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ἡ νῆσος hē nêsos |
τὼ νήσω tṑ nḗsō |
αἱ νῆσοι hai nêsoi | ||||||||||
Genitive | τῆς νήσου tês nḗsou |
τοῖν νήσοιν toîn nḗsoin |
τῶν νήσων tôn nḗsōn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῇ νήσῳ têi nḗsōi |
τοῖν νήσοιν toîn nḗsoin |
τῇσῐ / τῇσῐν νήσοισῐ / νήσοισῐν / νήσοις têisi(n) nḗsoisi(n) / nḗsois | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὴν νῆσον tḕn nêson |
τὼ νήσω tṑ nḗsō |
τᾱ̀ς νήσους tā̀s nḗsous | ||||||||||
Vocative | νῆσε nêse |
νήσω nḗsō |
νῆσοι nêsoi | ||||||||||
Notes: |
|
Derived terms
- Δωδεκάνησα (Dōdekánēsa)
- νησαῖος (nēsaîos)
- νησίδιον (nēsídion)
- νησίς (nēsís)
- νησιώτης (nēsiṓtēs)
- νησιωτικός (nēsiōtikós)
- νησιῶτις (nēsiôtis)
- Πελοπόννησος (Pelopónnēsos)
- Προκόννησος (Prokónnēsos)
- Τρῐνᾱσός (Trināsós)
- Χερσόνησος (Khersónēsos)
- χερσόνησος (khersónēsos)
Descendants
- → Coptic: ⲛⲏⲥⲟⲥ (nēsos)
- → English: Austronesia, Indonesia, Macaronesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia
- Greek: νήσος (nísos), νησί (nisí)
- → Latin: nēsus
Further reading
- “νῆσος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “νῆσος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “νῆσος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- νῆσος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- νῆσος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1018
- Furnée, Edzard Johan (1972) Die wichtigsten konsonantischen Erscheinungen des Vorgriechischen (Janua linguarum. Series practica; 150) (in German), The Hague and Paris: Mouton, page 387
- G3520 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 460
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- island idem, page 460.