σκόλοψ

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• σκόλοφρον (skólophron)

Etymology

Uncertain. Often derived from σκάλλω (skállō, “to stir, hoe”) or from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₃p-, from *(s)kelh₃- (“to cut”), and so related to Latin scalpō (“I scratch”), English shelf and Lithuanian sklempti (“to plane”).

Beekes & Klein dismiss an Indo-European origin and instead suggest Pre-Greek, due to the variant σκόλοφρον (skólophron).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /skó.lops/ → /ˈsko.lops/ → /ˈsko.lops/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /skó.lops/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈsko.lops/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsko.lops/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsko.lops/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsko.lops/

Noun

σκόλοψ • (skólops) m (genitive σκολοπός); third declension

1. A pale, a stake; a palisade
2. (medicine) An instrument for operating on the urethra
3. The point of a fishing hook

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ σκόλοψ; τοῦ σκόλοπος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ σκόλοψ ho skólops	τὼ σκόλοπε tṑ skólope	οἱ σκόλοπες hoi skólopes
Genitive	τοῦ σκόλοπος toû skólopos	τοῖν σκολόποιν toîn skolópoin	τῶν σκολόπων tôn skolópōn
Dative	τῷ σκόλοπῐ tôi skólopi	τοῖν σκολόποιν toîn skolópoin	τοῖς σκόλοψῐ / σκόλοψῐν toîs skólopsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν σκόλοπᾰ tòn skólopa	τὼ σκόλοπε tṑ skólope	τοὺς σκόλοπᾰς toùs skólopas
Vocative	σκόλοψ skólops	σκόλοπε skólope	σκόλοπες skólopes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• Latin: scolops

Further reading

• “σκόλοψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σκόλοψ 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