βόμβος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

An Onomatopoeic term borrowed from the Pre-Greek substrate. Compare Lithuanian bim̃balas, Latvian bam̃bals (“beetle”), Russian бу́бен (búben, “tambourine”), Albanian bubullimë (“thunder”), and Old Norse bumla (“drum”) for similar formations.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bóm.bos/ → /ˈβom.bos/ → /ˈvom.bos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bóm.bos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈbom.bos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβom.bos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈvom.bos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈvom.bos/

Noun

βόμβος • (bómbos) m (genitive βόμβου); second declension

1. any deep, hollow sound, humming, buzzing, booming, rumbling

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ βόμβος; τοῦ βόμβου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ βόμβος ho bómbos	τὼ βόμβω tṑ bómbō	οἱ βόμβοι hoi bómboi
Genitive	τοῦ βόμβου toû bómbou	τοῖν βόμβοιν toîn bómboin	τῶν βόμβων tôn bómbōn
Dative	τῷ βόμβῳ tôi bómbōi	τοῖν βόμβοιν toîn bómboin	τοῖς βόμβοις toîs bómbois
Accusative	τὸν βόμβον tòn bómbon	τὼ βόμβω tṑ bómbō	τοὺς βόμβους toùs bómbous
Vocative	βόμβε bómbe	βόμβω bómbō	βόμβοι bómboi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• βομβυλιός (bombuliós)

Descendants

• → Greek: βόμβος (vómvos)
• → Latin: bombus (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “βόμβος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “βόμβος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βόμβος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βόμβος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • boom idem, page 89.
  • buzz idem, page 107.
  • drone idem, page 253.
  • hum idem, page 409.
• βόμβος, 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

• βομβίνος (vomvínos)

Etymology

Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos).

Noun

βόμβος • (vómvos) m (plural βόμβοι)

1. bumblebee
2. buzzing, humming (sound)
3. (medicine) tinnitus

Declension

Declension of βόμβος

	singular	plural
nominative	βόμβος (vómvos)	βόμβοι (vómvoi)
genitive	βόμβου (vómvou)	βόμβων (vómvon)
accusative	βόμβο (vómvo)	βόμβους (vómvous)
vocative	βόμβε (vómve)	βόμβοι (vómvoi)

Synonyms

• (tinnitus): εμβοές f pl (emvoés)
• (hornet): αγριομέλισσα f (agriomélissa)