ξόανον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ξύω (xúō, “to carve, smooth”). Compare ξύλον (xúlon, “wood”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ksó.a.non/ → /ˈkso.a.non/ → /ˈkso.a.non/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ksó.a.non/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkso.a.non/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈkso.a.non/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈkso.a.non/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈkso.a.non/

Noun

ξόᾰνον • (xóănon) n (genitive ξοᾰ́νου); second declension

1. an image of carved wood, an image, statue, especially of a god; xoanon
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 5.3.12
   • 413 BCE, Euripides, Ion 1403
   • 413 BCE, Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1359
   • 415 BCE, Euripides, The Trojan Women 525
   • 415 BCE, Euripides, The Trojan Women 1074
   • Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.17.2
2. a musical instrument
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Fragments 238

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ ξόᾰνον; τοῦ ξοᾰ́νου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ξόᾰνον tò xóănon	τὼ ξοᾰ́νω tṑ xoắnō	τᾰ̀ ξόᾰνᾰ tằ xóănă
Genitive	τοῦ ξοᾰ́νου toû xoắnou	τοῖν ξοᾰ́νοιν toîn xoắnoin	τῶν ξοᾰ́νων tôn xoắnōn
Dative	τῷ ξοᾰ́νῳ tôi xoắnōi	τοῖν ξοᾰ́νοιν toîn xoắnoin	τοῖς ξοᾰ́νοις toîs xoắnois
Accusative	τὸ ξόᾰνον tò xóănon	τὼ ξοᾰ́νω tṑ xoắnō	τᾰ̀ ξόᾰνᾰ tằ xóănă
Vocative	ξόᾰνον xóănon	ξοᾰ́νω xoắnō	ξόᾰνᾰ xóănă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• English: xoanon
• Greek: ξόανο (xóano)

References

• “ξόανον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ξόανον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ξόανον 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.
  • image idem, page 416.
  • statue idem, page 813.