σαλαμάνδρα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unknown. Suggestions put forward are:

From Pre-Greek, possibly akin σαύρα (saúra, “lizard”), itself of unclear origin.^[1]
Akin to Basque sugalindila, sugelinda, sugalinda, sugalindara, sugelindara, sugelandara, subemandil, sumandil, sugemandila (“lizard”),^[2] assuming both ultimately coming from a common source.

Sound symbolism most likely had a role into the ultimate shape of the term, as it did in many languages in their terms for “lizard”. Compare also Byzantine Greek σαλαμίνθη (salamínthē, “spider”), with which it may share the possibly imitative root σαλαμ- (salam-).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /sa.la.mán.dra/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /sa.laˈman.dra/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /sa.laˈman.dra/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /sa.laˈman.dra/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /sa.laˈman.dra/

Noun

σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾰ • (salamándra) f (genitive σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾱς); first declension

fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾰ; τῆς σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾰ hē salamándra	τὼ σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾱ tṑ salamándrā	αἱ σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδραι hai salamándrai
Genitive	τῆς σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾱς tês salamándrās	τοῖν σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδραιν toîn salamándrain	τῶν σᾰλᾰμᾰνδρῶν tôn salamandrôn
Dative	τῇ σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾳ têi salamándrāi	τοῖν σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδραιν toîn salamándrain	ταῖς σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδραις taîs salamándrais
Accusative	τὴν σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾰν tḕn salamándran	τὼ σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾱ tṑ salamándrā	τᾱ̀ς σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾱς tā̀s salamándrās
Vocative	σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾰ salamándra	σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρᾱ salamándrā	σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδραι salamándrai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

σᾰλᾰμᾰ́νδρειος (salamándreios)

Related terms

^? σαλαμίνθη (salamínthē)

Descendants

→ Latin: salamandra
- → English: salamander
- → Italian: salamandra
- → Translingual: Salamandra
→ Old Armenian: սաղամանդր (sałamandr)
→ Persian: سمندر (samandar)

References

^ 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, page 1303
^ Leschber, Corinna, Bengtson, John D. (2021) “Notes on some Pre-Greek words in relation to Euskaro-Caucasian (North Caucasian + Basque)”, in Journal of Language Relationship‎^[1], volume 19, numbers 1–2, →DOI, page 82