βότσαλο

Greek

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly from Byzantine Greek βήσσαλον (bḗssalon), from Late Latin bessalis (“small brick, tile”). Alternatively, has been interpreted as deriving from Italian bozzolo (“cocoon”), although this interpretation remains generally unsupported by most linguists due to semantic and phonological challenges. Another possibility is that it derives from Ancient Greek βολάχι (bolákhi), itself a diminutive form of βόλος (bólos). The affrication of the phoneme /k/ before the front vowel /i/ may have transformed βολάχι (bolákhi) to *βολάτσι (*bolátsi) and eventually βότσαλο (bótsalo). This etymology may be attested in γιαλόβολος (gialóvolos) and γιαλόβουλος (gialóvoulos), both meaning "sea-pebble."

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvo.t͡sa.lo/

Noun

βότσαλο • (vótsalo) n

1. small stone rounded and eroded by a body of water; pebble

Declension

Declension of βότσαλο

	singular	plural
nominative	βότσαλο (vótsalo)	βότσαλα (vótsala)
genitive	βότσαλου (vótsalou)	βότσαλων (vótsalon)
accusative	βότσαλο (vótsalo)	βότσαλα (vótsala)
vocative	βότσαλο (vótsalo)	βότσαλα (vótsala)

Related terms

• βοτσαλάκι (botsaláki)
• βοτσαλωτός (botsalōtós)

References

• βότσαλο, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language
• 2000, Niki Watts, The Oxford Greek Dictionary: Greek-English, English-Greek‎^[1] (in Greek and English), Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 40:
• 1975, Demetrios Moutsos, Byzantion, volume 45 (in English), Foundation Byzantine, page 122: