βάτραχος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• βάθρακος (báthrakos) — Ionic
• βότραχος (bótrakhos) — Ionic
• βρόταχος (brótakhos) — Ionic

Etymology

Seemingly imitative of croaking, with original form something like *βρατ-αχ- (*brat-akh-), but this imitation was probably not formed in Greek, but borrowed from Pre-Greek or Semitic; compare Hebrew צְפַרְדֵּעַ (ṣəp̄ardḗaʿ), Arabic ضَفْدَع (ḍafdaʕ), considering that in the dialect of Zakynthos the frog is matching the Semitic with σπορδακάς (spordakás) – unless of course one must find that Semitic and Greek have borrowed from an unknown third.

Concerning the wide range of dialectal variation, Beekes explains that much may be due to folk etymology or taboo, combined with other phonetic alterations such as vowel displacement and even prenasalization, which indicate substrate origin: “A priori, a local (i.e. Pre-Greek) form is to be expected for all of these forms; the variation α/ο points to this.” The suffix *-χ- (*-kh-) is also found in names of other animals.

An older hypothesis (cf. Pokorny 1959) links Proto-West Germanic *krodu and Latin bruscus (“frog or toad”), all from a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *gʷredʰ- (“frog, toad”), supposing metathesis (cf. Ionic βρόταχος (brótakhos)) and an original *dʰ whence perhaps the /tʰ/ of the Ionic variant βάθρακος (báthrakos), but this is phonetically very difficult. Moreover, as Beekes explains, the form with /t/ is original, whereas Ionic frequently displaces aspiration in this way.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bá.tra.kʰos/ → /ˈβa.tra.xos/ → /ˈva.tra.xos/

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

Noun

βᾰ́τρᾰχος • (bắtrăkhos) m (genitive βᾰτρᾰ́χου); second declension

1. frog
   • Aristophanes, Frogs, 207.

     βατράχων κύκνων θαυμαστά.

     batrákhōn kúknōn thaumastá.

     Most amazing [songs] by the swanlike frogs.

2. anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius)

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ βᾰ́τρᾰχος; τοῦ βᾰτρᾰ́χου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ βᾰ́τρᾰχος ho bắtrăkhos	τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω tṑ bătrắkhō	οἱ βᾰ́τρᾰχοι hoi bắtrăkhoi
Genitive	τοῦ βᾰτρᾰ́χου toû bătrắkhou	τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν toîn bătrắkhoin	τῶν βᾰτρᾰ́χων tôn bătrắkhōn
Dative	τῷ βᾰτρᾰ́χῳ tôi bătrắkhōi	τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν toîn bătrắkhoin	τοῖς βᾰτρᾰ́χοις toîs bătrắkhois
Accusative	τὸν βᾰ́τρᾰχον tòn bắtrăkhon	τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω tṑ bătrắkhō	τοὺς βᾰτρᾰ́χους toùs bătrắkhous
Vocative	βᾰ́τρᾰχε bắtrăkhe	βᾰτρᾰ́χω bătrắkhō	βᾰ́τρᾰχοι bắtrăkhoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• βατράχιον (batrákhion)
• βατραχομυομαχία (batrakhomuomakhía)

Descendants

• Greek: βάτραχος (vátrachos)
• Translingual: Batrachus, Batrachia
• → English: batrachotoxin

Further reading

• “βάτραχος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “βάτραχος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βάτραχος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βάτραχος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• G944 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 346
• βάτραχος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Greek

Alternative forms

• (diminutive): βατράχι (vatráchi)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βάτραχος (bátrakhos, “frog”).

Noun

βάτραχος • (vátrachos) m (plural βάτραχοι)

1. frog

Declension

Declension of βάτραχος

	singular	plural
nominative	βάτραχος (vátrachos)	βάτραχοι (vátrachoi)
genitive	βατράχου (vatráchou)	βατράχων (vatráchon)
accusative	βάτραχο (vátracho)	βατράχους (vatráchous)
vocative	βάτραχε (vátrache)	βάτραχοι (vátrachoi)

Derived terms

• βατράχι n (vatráchi, “froglet”)
• βατραχάκι n (vatracháki, “frog”)
• βατραχάνθρωπος m (vatrachánthropos, “frogman”)
• βατραχοπέδιλο n (vatrachopédilo, “flipper”)
• βατραχοφάγος (vatrachofágos, “frog eating”, adjective)

Further reading

• βάτραχος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el