βολβός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The form of the word is expressive, with a kind of reduplication. There are no direct relatives and it is reminiscent of words for round and globular objects, like Latin bulla (“water bubble”) and Latvian burbulis (“water bubble”). Further, similar to Armenian բողկ (boġk, “radish”), Sanskrit बल्बज (balbaja, “Indian goosegrass”), and Albanian bajgë.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bol.bós/ → /βolˈβos/ → /volˈvos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bol.bós/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /bolˈbos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /βolˈβos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /volˈvos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /volˈvos/

Noun

βολβός • (bolbós) m (genitive βολβοῦ); second declension

1. (botany) bulb of various plants, especially onion
2. tassel hyacinth (Muscari comosum)

   Synonym: ἀγριοκρόμμυον (agriokrómmuon)

3. (anatomy) eyeball

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ βολβός; τοῦ βολβοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ βολβός ho bolbós	τὼ βολβώ tṑ bolbṓ	οἱ βολβοί hoi bolboí
Genitive	τοῦ βολβοῦ toû bolboû	τοῖν βολβοῖν toîn bolboîn	τῶν βολβῶν tôn bolbôn
Dative	τῷ βολβῷ tôi bolbôi	τοῖν βολβοῖν toîn bolboîn	τοῖς βολβοῖς toîs bolboîs
Accusative	τὸν βολβόν tòn bolbón	τὼ βολβώ tṑ bolbṓ	τοὺς βολβούς toùs bolboús
Vocative	βολβέ bolbé	βολβώ bolbṓ	βολβοί bolboí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• βολβάριον (bolbárion)
• βολβίνη (bolbínē)
• βολβίον (bolbíon)
• βολβίσκος (bolbískos)
• βολβοειδής (bolboeidḗs)
• βολβοκάστανον (bolbokástanon)
• βολβοφακῆ (bolbophakê)
• βολβώδης (bolbṓdēs)
• βολβωρυχέω (bolbōrukhéō)

Descendants

• Greek: βολβός (volvós)
• → Latin: bulbus (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “βολβός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “βολβός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βολβός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βολβός in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• 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

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βολβός (bolbós).

Noun

βολβός • (volvós) m (plural βολβοί)

1. bulb (daffodil, crocus, etc)
2. bulb (swollen root of these plants)

Declension

Declension of βολβός

	singular	plural
nominative	βολβός (volvós)	βολβοί (volvoí)
genitive	βολβού (volvoú)	βολβών (volvón)
accusative	βολβό (volvó)	βολβούς (volvoús)
vocative	βολβέ (volvé)	βολβοί (volvoí)