κτείς

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 3 November 2017

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *pḱtén-s (“comb”), a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to pluck”). Cognate with Latin pecten, Persian شانه (šâne).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ktěːs/ → /ktis/ → /ktis/

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

Noun

κτείς • (kteís) m (genitive κτενός); third declension

1. comb (for hair, or in weaving)
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Amores (Affairs of the Heart) 44:

     ἀκόλουθοι δὲ καὶ παιδαγωγοὶ χορὸς αὐτῷ κόσμιος ἕπονται τὰ σεμνὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐν χερσὶν ὄργανα κρατοῦντες, οὐ πριστοῦ κτενὸς ἐντομὰς κόμην καταψήχειν δυναμένας οὐδὲ ἔσοπτρα τῶν ἀντιμόρφων χαρακτήρων ἀγράφους εἰκόνας, ἀλλ’ ἢ πολύπτυχοι δέλτοι κατόπιν ἀκολουθοῦσιν ἢ παλαιῶν ἔργων ἀρετὰς φυλάττουσαι βίβλοι, κἂν εἰς μουσικοῦ δέῃ φοιτᾶν, εὐμελὴς λύρα.

     akólouthoi dè kaì paidagōgoì khoròs autôi kósmios hépontai tà semnà tês aretês en khersìn órgana kratoûntes, ou pristoû ktenòs entomàs kómēn katapsḗkhein dunaménas oudè ésoptra tôn antimórphōn kharaktḗrōn agráphous eikónas, all’ ḕ polúptukhoi déltoi katópin akolouthoûsin ḕ palaiôn érgōn aretàs phuláttousai bíbloi, kàn eis mousikoû déēi phoitân, eumelḕs lúra.

     • 1913 translation by A. M. Harmon (Loeb edition)

       He is followed by an orderly company of attendants and tutors, who grip in their hands the revered instruments of virtue, not the points of a toothed comb that can caress the hair nor mirrors that without artists’ aid reproduce the shapes confronting them, but behind him come many-leaved writing tablets or books that preserve the merit of ancient deeds, along with a tuneful lyre, should he have to go to a music master.

2. rake
3. horn of a lyre
4. pubes
5. scallop

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ κτείς; τοῦ κτενός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κτείς ho kteís	τὼ κτένε tṑ kténe	οἱ κτένες hoi kténes
Genitive	τοῦ κτενός toû ktenós	τοῖν κτενοῖν toîn ktenoîn	τῶν κτενῶν tôn ktenôn
Dative	τῷ κτενῐ́ tôi ktení	τοῖν κτενοῖν toîn ktenoîn	τοῖς κτεσῐ́ / κτεσῐ́ν toîs ktesí(n)
Accusative	τὸν κτένᾰ tòn kténa	τὼ κτένε tṑ kténe	τοὺς κτένᾰς toùs kténas
Vocative	κτείς kteís	κτένε kténe	κτένες kténes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• κτενῐ́δῐον (ktenídion)
• κτενῐ́ζω (ktenízō, “to comb”)
• κτένῐον (kténion)

Related terms

• πέκω (pékō, “to comb”)
• πεκτέω (pektéō, “to shear, to clip”)
• πόκος (pókos, “wool”)

Descendants

• ⇒ Koine Greek: κτένιον (kténion) (diminutive)
  • Byzantine Greek: κτένιν (kténin), κτένι (kténi), χτένι (khténi)
    • ⇒ Greek: χτένα (chténa) (with gender shift), χτένι (chténi)
• → Translingual: cteno-

See also

• θρῐ́ξ (thríx, “hair”)
• φᾰλᾰκρός (phalakrós, “bald”)

Further reading

• “κτείς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κτείς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κτείς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “κτείς”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • comb idem, page 144.
• “κτείς”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011