ὄρχις

See also: όρχις

Ancient Greek

Diagram of an orchid plant and its characteristically shaped roots

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₁órǵʰis (“testicle”). Cognates include Old Armenian որձիք (orjikʻ, “idem”), Avestan 𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬌 (ər^əzi), Hittite [script needed] (arkiš), Albanian herdhe, and Irish uirghe.

The "orchid" sense is likely for the characteristically oblong shape of the plant's roots.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ór.kʰis/ → /ˈor.çis/ → /ˈor.çis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ór.kʰis/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈor.kʰis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.çis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.çis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈor.çis/

Noun

ὄρχις • (órkhis) m or f (genitive ὄρχεως or ὄρχῐος); third declension

1. (masculine, often plural) testicle
2. (masculine) ovary
3. (feminine) orchid
4. (feminine) a type of olive

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ, ἡ ὄρχῐς; τοῦ, τῆς ὄρχεως (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ, ἡ ὄρχῐς ho, hē órkhĭs	τὼ ὄρχει tṑ órkhei	οἱ, αἱ ὄρχεις hoi, hai órkheis
Genitive	τοῦ, τῆς ὄρχεως toû, tês órkheōs	τοῖν ὀρχέοιν toîn orkhéoin	τῶν ὄρχεων tôn órkheōn
Dative	τῷ, τῇ ὄρχει tôi, têi órkhei	τοῖν ὀρχέοιν toîn orkhéoin	τοῖς, ταῖς ὄρχεσῐ / ὄρχεσῐν toîs, taîs órkhesĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸν, τὴν ὄρχῐν tòn, tḕn órkhĭn	τὼ ὄρχει tṑ órkhei	τοὺς, τᾱ̀ς ὄρχεις toùs, tā̀s órkheis
Vocative	ὄρχῐ órkhĭ	ὄρχει órkhei	ὄρχεις órkheis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ὀρχίδιον (orkhídion)
• ὀρχιπεδίζω (orkhipedízō)

Descendants

• ⇒ Byzantine Greek: ὀρχίδιον (orkhídion)
  • Greek: αρχίδι (archídi)
• → Greek: όρχις m (órchis)
• → Latin: orchis (see there for further descendants)
• → English: orchi-
• → Italian: orchi-

Further reading

• “ὄρχις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὄρχις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ὄρχις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ὄρχις 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
• “ὄρχις”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011