σπλήν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From earlier *σπληχ- (*splēkh-), *σπλαχ- (*splakh-), from Proto-Indo-European, but the exact root remains formally difficult to construct. The root could be *splēǵʰ-, *splēh₁ǵʰ-, *spelǵʰ- or *splēngʰ-.

Cognate with Middle Irish selg, Old Prussian blusne, Lithuanian blužnis, Latin lien, Old Armenian փայծաղն (pʻaycałn), Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬀𐬥 (spər^əzan), and Sanskrit प्लीहन् m (plīhán).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /splɛ̌ːn/ → /splin/ → /splin/

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

Noun

σπλήν • (splḗn) m (genitive σπληνός); third declension

1. milt, spleen

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ σπλήν; τοῦ σπληνός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ σπλήν ho splḗn	τὼ σπλῆνε tṑ splêne	οἱ σπλῆνες hoi splênes
Genitive	τοῦ σπληνός toû splēnós	τοῖν σπληνοῖν toîn splēnoîn	τῶν σπληνῶν tôn splēnôn
Dative	τῷ σπληνῐ́ tôi splēní	τοῖν σπληνοῖν toîn splēnoîn	τοῖς σπλησῐ́ / σπλησῐ́ν toîs splēsí(n)
Accusative	τὸν σπλῆνᾰ tòn splêna	τὼ σπλῆνε tṑ splêne	τοὺς σπλῆνᾰς toùs splênas
Vocative	σπλήν splḗn	σπλῆνε splêne	σπλῆνες splênes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• Byzantine Greek: σπλήνα (splḗna)
  • Greek: σπλήνα f (splína)
  • Mariupol Greek: сплына (splyna)
• → Latin: splen m
  • Old French: esplen m, espleen (Anglo-Norman), esplein
    • → Middle English: splene, splen
      • English: spleen (see there for further descendants)
  • → Italian: splene
  • Romanian: splină f
  • Spanish: esplene

Further reading

• “σπλήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σπλήν 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.
  • milt idem, page 529.
  • spleen idem, page 803.