ἴονθος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

May belong to a word for "hair", which appears in Middle Irish find (“hair”), Dutch wenkbrauw (“eyebrow”), Old Prussian wanso (“first beard”), and Proto-Slavic *ǫsъ (“moustache”). The Greek word would have to represent a reduplicated formation *ϝί-ϝονθος (*wí-wonthos). All these words have been interpreted as verbal nouns from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“hair, wool, beard”), with the specific Greek formation as *wi-wondʰ-o-s.^[1]

For a similar semantic shift, compare Georgian თმა (tma, “hair”) ~ Svan შდო̈მ (šdöm, “rash”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /í.on.tʰos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈi.on.tʰos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.on.θos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.on.θos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈi.on.θos/

Noun

ἴονθος • (íonthos) m (genitive ἰόνθου); second declension

root of a hair, downy hair
eruption on the face, which accompanies the first growth of the beard

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ἴονθος; τοῦ ἰόνθου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἴονθος ho íonthos	τὼ ἰόνθω tṑ iónthō	οἱ ἴονθοι hoi íonthoi
Genitive	τοῦ ἰόνθου toû iónthou	τοῖν ἰόνθοιν toîn iónthoin	τῶν ἰόνθων tôn iónthōn
Dative	τῷ ἰόνθῳ tôi iónthōi	τοῖν ἰόνθοιν toîn iónthoin	τοῖς ἰόνθοις toîs iónthois
Accusative	τὸν ἴονθον tòn íonthon	τὼ ἰόνθω tṑ iónthō	τοὺς ἰόνθους toùs iónthous
Vocative	ἴονθε íonthe	ἰόνθω iónthō	ἴονθοι íonthoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἰονθάς (ionthás)
ἰονθώδης (ionthṓdēs)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἴονθος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 594