χερμάς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The entry by Beekes in his Etymological Dictionary of Greek reads (in paraphrase):

"From Proto-Hellenic *kʰermáts. Connected with χείρ (kheír, “hand”) by ancient sources, this word reminds of χέρμα (khérma, “pebble”) and χέραδος (khérados, “silt, gravel”), which are also unclear. If the word belongs to χέραδος (khérados), it is probably Pre-Greek. Otherwise, it may be from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰer- along with χέρμα (khérma) and κέγχρος (kénkhros). The formally unobjectionable connection with Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ʰarmyám (“permanent house, building”) remains hypothetical because of the meaning."

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰer.más/ → /çerˈmas/ → /çerˈmas/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰer.más/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kʰerˈmas/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /çerˈmas/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /çerˈmas/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /çerˈmas/

Noun

χερμᾰ́ς • (khermắs) f (genitive χερμᾰ́δος); third declension

1. large pebble or stone, especially for throwing or slinging, slingstone

   Synonym: σφενδόνη (sphendónē)

2. (in later poets) large block of stone

Declension

Third declension of ἡ χερμᾰ́ς; τῆς χερμᾰ́δος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ χερμᾰ́ς hē khermắs	τὼ χερμᾰ́δε tṑ khermắde	αἱ χερμᾰ́δες hai khermắdes
Genitive	τῆς χερμᾰ́δος tês khermắdos	τοῖν χερμᾰ́δοιν toîn khermắdoin	τῶν χερμᾰ́δων tôn khermắdōn
Dative	τῇ χερμᾰ́δῐ têi khermắdĭ	τοῖν χερμᾰ́δοιν toîn khermắdoin	ταῖς χερμᾰ́σῐ / χερμᾰ́σῐν taîs khermắsĭ(n)
Accusative	τὴν χερμᾰ́δᾰ tḕn khermắdă	τὼ χερμᾰ́δε tṑ khermắde	τᾱ̀ς χερμᾰ́δᾰς tā̀s khermắdăs
Vocative	χερμᾰ́ς khermắs	χερμᾰ́δε khermắde	χερμᾰ́δες khermắdes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Nominative singular -ς (-s) arose by reduction of the original cluster *-ds.

Derived terms

• χερμᾰ́δῐον (khermắdĭon)
• χερμᾰ́δῐος (khermắdĭos)
• χερμᾰ́ζω (khermắzō)
• χερμᾰστήρ (khermăstḗr)
• χερμᾰ́τής (khermắtḗs)
• χερμᾰτῐστής (khermătĭstḗs)

Further reading

• “χερμάς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “χερμάς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• χερμάς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χερμάς”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1626