θύρσος

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 19 January 2015

Etymology

Probably an Anatolian loanword; compare Luwian [script needed] (tuwarsa, “vine”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /tʰýr.sos/ → /ˈθyr.sos/ → /ˈθir.sos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tʰýr.sos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰyr.sos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈθyr.sos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈθyr.sos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈθir.sos/

Noun

θῠ́ρσος • (thúrsos) m (genitive θῠ́ρσου); second declension

1. thyrsus, a wand wreathed in ivy and vine-leaves with a pine-cone or a blooming artichoke at the top, carried by the devotees of Dionysus
2. the devotees themselves
3. Hesychius defines it as κλάδος (kládos, “stick, branch”), ῥάβδος (rhábdos, “stick, rod”)

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ θῠ́ρσος; τοῦ θῠ́ρσου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ θῠ́ρσος ho thúrsos	τὼ θῠ́ρσω tṑ thúrsō	οἱ θῠ́ρσοι hoi thúrsoi
Genitive	τοῦ θῠ́ρσου toû thúrsou	τοῖν θῠ́ρσοιν toîn thúrsoin	τῶν θῠ́ρσων tôn thúrsōn
Dative	τῷ θῠ́ρσῳ tôi thúrsōi	τοῖν θῠ́ρσοιν toîn thúrsoin	τοῖς θῠ́ρσοις toîs thúrsois
Accusative	τὸν θῠ́ρσον tòn thúrson	τὼ θῠ́ρσω tṑ thúrsō	τοὺς θῠ́ρσους toùs thúrsous
Vocative	θῠ́ρσε thúrse	θῠ́ρσω thúrsō	θῠ́ρσοι thúrsoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἄθῠρσος (áthursos)
• θῠρσᾰ́ζω (thursázō)
• θῠρσᾰ́ρῐον (thursárion)
• θῠρσεχθής (thursekhthḗs)
• θῠρσῐ́ᾰμβος (thursíambos)
• θῠρσῐ́νη (thursínē)
• θῠ́ρσῐον (thúrsion)
• θῠρσῐ́της (thursítēs)
• θῠρσῐ́ων (thursíōn)
• θῠρσοειδής (thursoeidḗs)
• θῠρσοκόμος (thursokómos)
• θῠρσόλογχος (thursólonkhos)
• θῠρσομᾰνής (thursomanḗs)
• θῠρσοπλήξ (thursoplḗx)
• θῠρσοτῐνᾰ́κτης (thursotináktēs)
• θῠρσοφόρος (thursophóros)
• θῠρσοχᾰρής (thursokharḗs)
• θῠρσόω (thursóō)

 

Descendants

• → Latin: thyrsus (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “θύρσος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “θύρσος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• θύρσος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • thyrsus idem, page 873.