πύρνος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The word is obsolete and without etymology. It was compared with πορύναν (porúnan, “kneaded mass, cake”) and τορύνη (torúnē, “kind of grain”) by Fick, adducing Sanskrit चर्वति (carvati, “to eat, chew”) and चूर्ण (cūrṇa, “dust, powder”) as well. This would lead to the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European *kʷeru-, which requires a pre-form *τερύνα (*terúna) for τορύνη (torúnē). However, this leaves the υ-vowel in πύρνος unexplained. According to Szemerényi, this word is syncopated from πύρινος (púrinos, “made of wheat”), but this is contestable for several reasons. Furnée connects the word with Basque apur (“crumb”); this etymology seems unreliable, but in any case, the word may well be Pre-Greek.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pýr.nos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpyr.nos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpyr.nos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpyr.nos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpir.nos/

Noun

πῠ́ρνος • (pŭ́rnos) m (genitive πῠ́ρνου); second declension

morsel, bit
Synonym: ψωμός (psōmós)
kind of one-seeded cereal

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ πῠ́ρνος; τοῦ πῠ́ρνου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ πῠ́ρνος ho pŭ́rnos	τὼ πῠ́ρνω tṑ pŭ́rnō	οἱ πῠ́ρνοι hoi pŭ́rnoi
Genitive	τοῦ πῠ́ρνου toû pŭ́rnou	τοῖν πῠ́ρνοιν toîn pŭ́rnoin	τῶν πῠ́ρνων tôn pŭ́rnōn
Dative	τῷ πῠ́ρνῳ tôi pŭ́rnōi	τοῖν πῠ́ρνοιν toîn pŭ́rnoin	τοῖς πῠ́ρνοις toîs pŭ́rnois
Accusative	τὸν πῠ́ρνον tòn pŭ́rnon	τὼ πῠ́ρνω tṑ pŭ́rnō	τοὺς πῠ́ρνους toùs pŭ́rnous
Vocative	πῠ́ρνε pŭ́rne	πῠ́ρνω pŭ́rnō	πῠ́ρνοι pŭ́rnoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

πυρναῖος (purnaîos)
πύρνον (púrnon)
πυρνοτόκος (purnotókos)