φιλύρα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

φιλύρρη (philúrrhē) — Ionic

Etymology

Strömberg surmises a compound of φίλος (phílos, “friend”) +‎ ὕρον (húron, “swarm of bees”), because the linden attracts bees (compare Latin apium (“celery”) from apis (“bee”) and German Bienenbaum (“maple”) from Biene (“bee”)). The European lime tree is not native of Greece, so it is probably a substrate word, perhaps Pre-Greek.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pʰi.lý.raː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /pʰiˈly.ra/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ɸiˈly.ra/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /fiˈly.ra/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /fiˈli.ra/

Noun

φιλύρᾱ • (philúrā) f (genitive φιλύρᾱς); first declension

linden, lime tree (Tilia europaea)
bass underneath its bark

Declension

First declension of ἡ φιλύρᾱ; τῆς φιλύρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ φιλύρᾱ hē philúrā	τὼ φιλύρᾱ tṑ philúrā	αἱ φιλύραι hai philúrai
Genitive	τῆς φιλύρᾱς tês philúrās	τοῖν φιλύραιν toîn philúrain	τῶν φιλυρῶν tôn philurôn
Dative	τῇ φιλύρᾳ têi philúrāi	τοῖν φιλύραιν toîn philúrain	ταῖς φιλύραις taîs philúrais
Accusative	τὴν φιλύρᾱν tḕn philúrān	τὼ φιλύρᾱ tṑ philúrā	τᾱ̀ς φιλύρᾱς tā̀s philúrās
Vocative	φιλύρᾱ philúrā	φιλύρᾱ philúrā	φιλύραι philúrai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

φιλυρέα (philuréa)
φιλύρινος (philúrinos)
φιλύριον (philúrion)

Descendants

Greek: φιλύρα (filýra)
Latin: philyra

References

“φιλύρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“φιλύρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
φιλύρα 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