φακός

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• φᾰκόν (phăkón)

Etymology

Disputed. From a root *bʰaḱ- shared with Albanian bathë (“broad bean”). The initial *bʰa- is also found in Latin faba (“bean”), Proto-Slavic *bòbъ (“bean”) and Proto-Germanic *baunō (“bean”). Alternatively akin to ἀφάκη (aphákē, “vetch”), in which case possibly from Pre-Greek. An Illyrian origin has also been proposed, in which case the word could be a doublet of φάσηλος (phásēlos, “cowpea”).

However note Classical Syriac ܦܘܗܘ (pāhū), ܦܐܟܘ (paḵū, “lentil”) vs ܦܘܗܐ (pāhā, pāhū, “pimple, pustule, sore”), paralleling Akkadian 𒄘𒌉 (GU₂.TUR /⁠kakkû⁠/, “lentil”) already found in Old Akkadian vs. 𒆕𒆪𒌈 (kak-ku-tum /⁠kakkūtu⁠/, “single lentil; pimple, acne, pustule?”).

It is likely that the terms mentioned above are all related and derived from an ancient European and Mediterranean substrate word for "bean", which was borrowed by various groups in the area, particularly considering that the words for various beans in Indo-Aryan, a branch of Indo-European removed from this area, do not resemble the above terms.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pʰa.kós/ → /ɸaˈkos/ → /faˈkos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pʰa.kós/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /pʰaˈkos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ɸaˈkos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /faˈkos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /faˈkos/

Noun

φᾰκός • (phăkós) m (genitive φᾰκοῦ); second declension

1. lentil (Lens culinaris) and its seed
2. anything shaped like a lentil:
   1. sort of hot water bottle
   2. mole, birthmark, spot on the skin
   3. ornament on beds

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ φᾰκός; τοῦ φᾰκοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ φᾰκός ho phăkós	τὼ φᾰκώ tṑ phăkṓ	οἱ φᾰκοί hoi phăkoí
Genitive	τοῦ φᾰκοῦ toû phăkoû	τοῖν φᾰκοῖν toîn phăkoîn	τῶν φᾰκῶν tôn phăkôn
Dative	τῷ φᾰκῷ tôi phăkôi	τοῖν φᾰκοῖν toîn phăkoîn	τοῖς φᾰκοῖς toîs phăkoîs
Accusative	τὸν φᾰκόν tòn phăkón	τὼ φᾰκώ tṑ phăkṓ	τοὺς φᾰκούς toùs phăkoús
Vocative	φᾰκέ phăké	φᾰκώ phăkṓ	φᾰκοί phăkoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• Φᾰκᾶς (Phăkâs)
• φᾰκεψός (phăkepsós)
• φᾰκῆ (phăkê)
• φᾰ́κῐνος (phắkĭnos)
• φᾰ́κῐον (phắkĭon)
• φᾰκοειδής (phăkoeidḗs)
• φᾰκόμελῐ (phăkómelĭ)
• φᾰκοπτῐσᾰ́νη (phăkoptĭsắnē)
• φᾰκοπώλῐον (phăkopṓlĭon)
• φᾰκώδης (phăkṓdēs)
• φᾰ́κωσῐς (phắkōsĭs)
• φᾰκωτός (phăkōtós)

Further reading

• “φακός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “φακός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• φακός 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.
  • lentil idem, page 485.
• 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
• Payne Smith, Robert (1879–1901) Thesaurus Syriacus (in Latin), Oxford: Clarendon Press, column 3052b
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[2] (in German), volume 2, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 444, about Semitic words for freckles from words for lentil. In particular “ṭlpḥ”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, “ṭlpḥwn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, “ṭlpḥn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986– – potentially the Classical Syriac ܦܐܟܘ (paḵū, “lentil”) and the Greek are the second half of this word.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φακός (phakós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.ˈkos/

Noun

φακός • (fakós) m (plural φακοί)

1. (optics) lens
2. torch (UK), flashlight (US)

Declension

Declension of φακός

	singular	plural
nominative	φακός (fakós)	φακοί (fakoí)
genitive	φακού (fakoú)	φακών (fakón)
accusative	φακό (fakó)	φακούς (fakoús)
vocative	φακέ (faké)	φακοί (fakoí)

Related terms

• φακός επαφής m (fakós epafís, “contact lens”)
• αμφίκοιλος (amfíkoilos, “biconcave”, adjective)
• αμφίκυρτος (amfíkyrtos, “biconvex”, adjective)

Further reading

• φακός on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el