βέλος

See also: Βέλος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *gʷélHos, from *gʷelH- (“to throw, pierce”). The expected form is *δέλος, but the initial consonant has evidently been leveled with that of the cognate verb βάλλω (bállō). Cognates include Old High German quelan and Lithuanian gelti.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bé.los/ → /ˈβe.los/ → /ˈve.los/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bé.los/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈbe.los/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβe.los/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈve.los/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈve.los/

Noun

βέλος • (bélos) n (genitive βέλους or βέλεος); third declension

1. missile, arrow, dart
2. weapon
3. something quickly moving
4. artillery

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ βέλος; τοῦ βέλους (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ βέλος tò bélos	τὼ βέλει tṑ bélei	τᾰ̀ βέλη tằ bélē
Genitive	τοῦ βέλους toû bélous	τοῖν βελοῖν toîn beloîn	τῶν βελῶν tôn belôn
Dative	τῷ βέλει tôi bélei	τοῖν βελοῖν toîn beloîn	τοῖς βέλεσῐ / βέλεσῐν toîs bélesĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸ βέλος tò bélos	τὼ βέλει tṑ bélei	τᾰ̀ βέλη tằ bélē
Vocative	βέλος bélos	βέλει bélei	βέλη bélē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of βέλος; βέλεος (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	βέλος bélos	βέλει / βέλεε bélei / bélee	βέλεᾰ béleă
Genitive	βέλεος / βέλευς béleos / béleus	βελέοιν beléoin	βελέων beléōn
Dative	βέλει / βέλεῐ̈ bélei / béleĭ̈	βελέοιν beléoin	βέλεσῐ / βέλεσῐν / βελέεσσῐ / βελέεσσῐν bélesĭ(n) / beléessĭ(n)
Accusative	βέλος bélos	βέλει / βέλεε bélei / bélee	βέλεᾰ béleă
Vocative	βέλος bélos	βέλει / βέλεε bélei / bélee	βέλεᾰ béleă
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

• βελοσφενδόνη (belosphendónē)

Related terms

• βάλλω (bállō)
• βόλος (bólos)

Descendants

• Greek: βέλος (vélos)

See also

• ὀβελός (obelós)

Further reading

• “βέλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “βέλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “βέλος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• βέλος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• βέλος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• βέλος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• “βέλος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G956 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.
  • arrow idem, page 42.
  • bolt idem, page 88.
  • dart idem, page 195.
  • javelin idem, page 462.
  • lance idem, page 474.
  • missile idem, page 535.
  • projectile idem, page 653.
  • rapier idem, page 672.
  • shaft idem, page 760.
  • spear idem, page 799.
  • sword idem, page 849.
  • weapon idem, page 970.
• βέλος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βέλος (bélos), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷélHos, from *gʷelH-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈve.los/
• Hyphenation: βέ‧λος

Noun

βέλος • (vélos) n (plural βέλη)

1. arrow, dart, arrow-shaft

   Synonyms: σαΐτα (saḯta), (diminutuve) βελάκι (veláki)

2. cursor, pointer

Declension

Declension of βέλος

	singular	plural
nominative	βέλος (vélos)	βέλη (véli)
genitive	βέλους (vélous)	βελών (velón)
accusative	βέλος (vélos)	βέλη (véli)
vocative	βέλος (vélos)	βέλη (véli)

Coordinate terms

• βόλη f (vóli, “shot”)
• τόξο n (tóxo, “bow”)
• τοξοβολία f (toxovolía, “archery”)
• τοξότης m (toxótis, “archer”)

Further reading

• Βέλος (όπλο) on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el
• βέλος, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language