βάβαξ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Onomatopoeic word, like βαβάζω (babázō, “to speak inarticulately”), βάβιον (bábion, “child”), βάβακοι (bábakoi, “cicadas”) and βάβαλον (bábalon, “shouter”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bá.baks/ → /ˈβa.βaks/ → /ˈva.vaks/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bá.baks/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈba.baks/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβa.βaks/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈva.vaks/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈva.vaks/

Noun

βᾰ́βᾰξ • (bábax) m (genitive βᾰ́βᾰκος); third declension

1. chatterer, chatterbox

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ βᾰ́βᾰξ; τοῦ βᾰ́βᾰκος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ βᾰ́βᾰξ ho bábax	τὼ βᾰ́βᾰκε tṑ bábake	οἱ βᾰ́βᾰκες hoi bábakes
Genitive	τοῦ βᾰ́βᾰκος toû bábakos	τοῖν βᾰβᾰ́κοιν toîn babákoin	τῶν βᾰβᾰ́κων tôn babákōn
Dative	τῷ βᾰ́βᾰκῐ tôi bábaki	τοῖν βᾰβᾰ́κοιν toîn babákoin	τοῖς βᾰ́βᾰξῐ / βᾰ́βᾰξῐν toîs bábaxi(n)
Accusative	τὸν βᾰ́βᾰκᾰ tòn bábaka	τὼ βᾰ́βᾰκε tṑ bábake	τοὺς βᾰ́βᾰκᾰς toùs bábakas
Vocative	βᾰ́βᾰξ bábax	βᾰ́βᾰκε bábake	βᾰ́βᾰκες bábakes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• → English: babax (learned)
• → Translingual: Babax (learned)

Further reading

• “βάβαξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• βάβαξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βάβαξ in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• 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