κάστωρ

See also: Κάστωρ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The existence of Sanskrit कस्तूरी (kastūrī, “musk”), Sanskrit कस्तूरिका (kastūrikā, “musk-deer, musk”), and related terms points to reconstructing Proto-Indo-European *kestor- (“beaver, musk”) or a similar lemma. Note also Sanskrit कशीका (kaśīkā́, “weasel”), Sanskrit कश (káśa, “a type of rodent”), with etymologically suspect ś.

Beekes' assertion^[1] that the Sanskrit terms were derived from the Greek is absurd, given the attestation of the Indic terms not only in Classical Sanskrit, but also early Buddhist Pali and Jain Ardhamagadhi Prakrit, as well as India being the primary source of European musk. More plausible is that καστόριον (kastórion, “castoreum”) is a borrowing from Sanskrit, given its late attestation in Greek, although it is equally likely that the Greek terms were internally developed.

The traditional theory by Kretschmer derives the word from the name Κᾰ́στωρ (Kástōr, “Castor”), who, in Greek mythology, was known as a savior of women, supposedly for the medicinal effect of castor fluid for women's diseases. Whether or not Castor was mentioned in relation to beavers in Greek mythology, the relationship between the two is presumably of Indo-European vintage, as reflected in Sanskrit नकुल (nakulá, “mongoose, weasel; Castor”), which similarly refers to both animal and the specific horse-twin. Beavers did not exist in Greece proper, as pointed out by some, but were nonetheless mentioned by Herodotus to exist in the North Pontic area, near the Proto-Indo-European homeland, so it is almost certain the Hellenic tribes were familiar with beavers before venturing into Greece.

A candidate for a native Pre-Greek word for "beaver" might be λᾰ́τᾰξ (látax).

Note that the main Indo-European word for "beaver", *bʰébʰrus (which did not survive or exist in Hellenic), may be a reduplicative (and thus non-atomic) formation from *bʰerH- (“brown”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kás.tɔːr/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.tor/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.tor/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.tor/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.tor/

Noun

κάστωρ • (kástōr) m (genitive κάστορος); third declension

beaver

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ κάστωρ; τοῦ κάστορος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κάστωρ ho kástōr	τὼ κάστορε tṑ kástore	οἱ κάστορες hoi kástores
Genitive	τοῦ κάστορος toû kástoros	τοῖν καστόροιν toîn kastóroin	τῶν καστόρων tôn kastórōn
Dative	τῷ κάστορῐ tôi kástori	τοῖν καστόροιν toîn kastóroin	τοῖς κάστορσῐ / κάστορσῐν toîs kástorsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν κάστορᾰ tòn kástora	τὼ κάστορε tṑ kástore	τοὺς κάστορᾰς toùs kástoras
Vocative	κάστορ kástor	κάστορε kástore	κάστορες kástores
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

καστόριον (kastórion)

Descendants

→ Classical Syriac: ܩܣܛܘܪ (qasṭor)
→ Latin: castor (see there for further descendants)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κάστωρ, -ορος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 655-6