χαμαιλέων

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From χαμαί (khamaí, “on the ground”) +‎ λέων (léōn, “lion”);^[1] ultimately a calque of Akkadian 𒌨𒈤 𒊭 𒆠 (nēšu ša qaqqari, “chameleon, reptile”, literally “lion of the ground", "predator that crawls upon the ground”).^[2]^[3]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰa.mai̯.lé.ɔːn/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kʰa.mɛˈle.on/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /xa.mɛˈle.on/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /xa.meˈle.on/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /xa.meˈle.on/

Noun

χᾰμαιλέων • (khamailéōn) m (genitive χᾰμαιλέοντος); third declension

chameleon
type of plant, so called because of its colour-changing leaves

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ χᾰμαιλέων; τοῦ χᾰμαιλέοντος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ χᾰμαιλέων ho khamailéōn	τὼ χᾰμαιλέοντε tṑ khamailéonte	οἱ χᾰμαιλέοντες hoi khamailéontes
Genitive	τοῦ χᾰμαιλέοντος toû khamailéontos	τοῖν χᾰμαιλεόντοιν toîn khamaileóntoin	τῶν χᾰμαιλεόντων tôn khamaileóntōn
Dative	τῷ χᾰμαιλέοντῐ tôi khamailéonti	τοῖν χᾰμαιλεόντοιν toîn khamaileóntoin	τοῖς χᾰμαιλέουσῐ / χᾰμαιλέουσῐν toîs khamailéousi(n)
Accusative	τὸν χᾰμαιλέοντᾰ tòn khamailéonta	τὼ χᾰμαιλέοντε tṑ khamailéonte	τοὺς χᾰμαιλέοντᾰς toùs khamailéontas
Vocative	χᾰμαιλέον khamailéon	χᾰμαιλέοντε khamailéonte	χᾰμαιλέοντες khamailéontes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Greek: χαμαιλέοντας m (chamailéontas, “chameleon”)
→ Latin: chamaeleōn
- Catalan: camaleó
- Old French: cameleon
  - → Middle English: camelion
    - English: chameleon
  - French: caméléon
- → German: Chamäleon
→ Russian: хамелео́н m (xameleón)
→ Old Georgian: მსუენ-ლომი (msuen-lomi) (calque)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χαμαί (> COMP > on χαμαι-λέων)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1612-3
^ Critical and Philological Notes: Tablet XI, Note 314 in Andrew R. George (2003) The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Volume II, Oxford University Press, pages 896-897
^ nēšu(m) in Black, Jeremy, George, Andrew, Postgate, Nicholas (2000) A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, page 251