βαίτυλος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Of Semitic origin, usually considered to be a rendering of a collocation like Hebrew בֵּית אֵל (beth el, literally “house of God”).^[1] However, this identification is doubted by Gaifman, who marks a semantic and formal mismatch between the Semitic term and the Greek word.^[2] (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bǎi̯.tyː.los/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.ty.los/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβɛ.ty.los/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈve.ty.los/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈve.ti.los/

Noun

βαίτῡλος • (baítūlos) m (genitive βαιτῡ́λου); second declension

a baetyl, sacred stone of meteoric origin

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ βαίτυλος; τοῦ βαιτύλου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ βαίτυλος ho baítulos	τὼ βαιτύλω tṑ baitúlō	οἱ βαίτυλοι hoi baítuloi
Genitive	τοῦ βαιτύλου toû baitúlou	τοῖν βαιτύλοιν toîn baitúloin	τῶν βαιτύλων tôn baitúlōn
Dative	τῷ βαιτύλῳ tôi baitúlōi	τοῖν βαιτύλοιν toîn baitúloin	τοῖς βαιτύλοις toîs baitúlois
Accusative	τὸν βαίτυλον tòn baítulon	τὼ βαιτύλω tṑ baitúlō	τοὺς βαιτύλους toùs baitúlous
Vocative	βαίτυλε baítule	βαιτύλω baitúlō	βαίτυλοι baítuloi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

→ Latin: baetulus
- Catalan: betil
- → English: baetyl
- French: bétyle
- Italian: betilo
- Spanish: betilo

References

^ Robert, Wenning (2001) “The Betyls of Petra”, in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, volume 324, →JSTOR, pages 79-95
^ Gaifman, Milette (2008) “The Aniconic Image Of The Roman Near East”, in The Variety of Local Religious Life in the Near East, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, pages 37-72