ψέφας

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ψέφος (pséphos)

Etymology

A rhyming formation to κνέφας (knéphas). Usually Sanskrit क्षप् (kṣáp, “night”) is considered to be somehow related, but a precise connection cannot be established. Furnée takes σεῖφα (seîpha, “darkness, gloom”) as a shortened form of this word and also suggests to connect ζέφυρος (zéphuros, “west wind”). The variations would point to a Pre-Greek origin.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /psé.pʰas/ → /ˈpse.ɸas/ → /ˈpse.fas/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /psé.pʰas/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpse.pʰas/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpse.ɸas/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpse.fas/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpse.fas/

Noun

ψέφᾰς • (pséphas) n (genitive ψέφᾰος); third declension

1. gloom, darkness

   Synonyms: δνόφος (dnóphos), ζόφος (zóphos), κνέφας (knéphas), σκοτία (skotía)

Declension

Third declension of τὸ ψέφᾰς; τοῦ ψέφᾰος (contracted, Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	τὸ ψέφᾰς tò pséphas
Genitive	τοῦ ψέφᾰος toû pséphaos
Dative	τῷ ψέφᾰῐ̈ tôi pséphaï
Accusative	τὸ ψέφᾰς tò pséphas
Vocative	ψέφᾰς pséphas
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ψεφαῖος (psephaîos)
• ψεφαρός (psepharós)
• ψεφαυγοῦς (psephaugoûs)
• ψεφηνός (psephēnós)
• ψεφοειδής (psephoeidḗs)

 

Further reading

• “ψέφας”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ψέφας 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