κνίψ

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 27 October 2024

Alternative forms

• σκνίψ (skníps)

Etymology

Formation rhyming with θρίψ (thríps, “woodworm”) and ἴψ (íps, “kind of worm”). It has been compared with words for "pinching" in Baltic and Germanic, but these are rather European substrate words. The whole picture is that of a Pre-Greek word: very small animal, long ῑ, prothetic σ-.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /knǐːps/ → /knips/ → /knips/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /knǐːps/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /knips/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /knips/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /knips/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /knips/

Noun

κνῑ́ψ • (knī́ps) m (genitive κνῑπός); third declension

1. kind of insect that infests fig and oak trees and devours the gallfly

Declension

Third declension of ὁ κνῑ́ψ; τοῦ κνῑπός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κνῑ́ψ ho knī́ps	τὼ κνῖπε tṑ knîpe	οἱ κνῖπες hoi knîpes
Genitive	τοῦ κνῑπός toû knīpós	τοῖν κνῑποῖν toîn knīpoîn	τῶν κνῑπῶν tôn knīpôn
Dative	τῷ κνῑπῐ́ tôi knīpí	τοῖν κνῑποῖν toîn knīpoîn	τοῖς κνῑψῐ́ / κνῑψῐ́ν toîs knīpsí(n)
Accusative	τὸν κνῖπᾰ tòn knîpa	τὼ κνῖπε tṑ knîpe	τοὺς κνῖπᾰς toùs knîpas
Vocative	κνῑ́ψ knī́ps	κνῖπε knîpe	κνῖπες knîpes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• κνῑπείᾱ (knīpeíā)
• κνῑπειον (knīpeion)
• κνῑπεύω (knīpeúō)
• κνῑπολόγος (knīpológos)
• κνῑπόομαι (knīpóomai)
• κνῑπότης (knīpótēs)

 

Further reading

• “κνίψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κνίψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κνίψ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 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