ἄρθρον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂er-dʰrom, from *h₂er- (“to fit”) +‎ *-dʰrom (“tool or instrument suffix”), synchronically analyzable as ἀραρίσκω (ararískō) +‎ -θρον (-thron).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ár.tʰron/ → /ˈar.θron/ → /ˈar.θron/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ár.tʰron/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈar.tʰron/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈar.θron/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈar.θron/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈar.θron/

Noun

ᾰ̓́ρθρον • (ắrthron) n (genitive ᾰ̓́ρθρου); second declension

1. (anatomy) joint

   Synonym: ἅψος (hápsos)

2. (anatomy) limb
3. articulation

   ἄρθρον τῆς φωνῆς (árthron tês phōnês) – vocal articulation

4. (grammar) connecting word
5. (grammar) an article: a category including the definite article ὁ (ho) and the basic relative pronoun ὅς (hós)

Usage notes

Note concerning definition #2, ἄρθρον (árthron) was sometimes used to refer to various body parts such as the ankles, eyes, mouth, genitals, etc.

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ ᾰ̓́ρθρον; τοῦ ᾰ̓́ρθρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ᾰ̓́ρθρον tò ắrthron	τὼ ᾰ̓́ρθρω tṑ ắrthrō	τᾰ̀ ᾰ̓́ρθρᾰ tằ ắrthră
Genitive	τοῦ ᾰ̓́ρθρου toû ắrthrou	τοῖν ᾰ̓́ρθροιν toîn ắrthroin	τῶν ᾰ̓́ρθρων tôn ắrthrōn
Dative	τῷ ᾰ̓́ρθρῳ tôi ắrthrōi	τοῖν ᾰ̓́ρθροιν toîn ắrthroin	τοῖς ᾰ̓́ρθροις toîs ắrthrois
Accusative	τὸ ᾰ̓́ρθρον tò ắrthron	τὼ ᾰ̓́ρθρω tṑ ắrthrō	τᾰ̀ ᾰ̓́ρθρᾰ tằ ắrthră
Vocative	ᾰ̓́ρθρον ắrthron	ᾰ̓́ρθρω ắrthrō	ᾰ̓́ρθρᾰ ắrthră
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• Greek: άρθρο (árthro)

Further reading

• “ἄρθρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄρθρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἄρθρον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄρθρον in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• ἄρθρον in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • joint idem, page 463.
• ἄρθρον, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011