Ὠκεανός

See also: Ωκεανός, ωκεανός, and ὠκεανός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Uncertain, though generally acknowledged to be a non-Indo-European substrate loan, with Beekes noting that the concept of a "world-river" is not native to Indo-European mythology. A possible relationship with the Semitic root ʕ-w-g (“to be crooked, tortuous”) has been discussed.^[1] (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “What are some examples of Semitic words with this root?”) Another possibility includes a derivation from unattested Sumerian *A-ki-an(u) (Water of the Land and Heaven).^[2]

Beekes suggests a Pre-Greek form *ūkʲān-.^[3] Michael Janda has reminded the scientific community of an earlier comparison^[4] with the Vedic dragon Vṛtra's attribute āśáyāna- “lying on [the waters]”, claiming it to be an exact phonetical transposition of the Greek word, both stemming from Proto-Indo-European *ō-ḱey-m̥[h₁]no- (“lying on”), related to κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ɔː.ke.a.nós/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /o.ke.aˈnos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /o.ce.aˈnos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /o.ce.aˈnos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /o.ce.aˈnos/

Hyphenation: Ὠ‧κε‧α‧νός

Proper noun

Ὠκεᾰνός • (Ōkeanós) m (genitive Ὠκεᾰνοῦ); second declension

Oceanus, a Greek water god usually said to be a Titan, one of the sons of Uranus and Gaia.
The great freshwater river thought to encompass the world
The great saline outer sea (the Atlantic), as opposed to the Mediterranean.

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ Ὠκεᾰνός; τοῦ Ὠκεᾰνοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ Ὠκεᾰνός ho Ōkeanós	τὼ Ὠκεᾰνώ tṑ Ōkeanṓ	οἱ Ὠκεᾰνοί hoi Ōkeanoí
Genitive	τοῦ Ὠκεᾰνοῦ toû Ōkeanoû	τοῖν Ὠκεᾰνοῖν toîn Ōkeanoîn	τῶν Ὠκεᾰνῶν tôn Ōkeanôn
Dative	τῷ Ὠκεᾰνῷ tôi Ōkeanôi	τοῖν Ὠκεᾰνοῖν toîn Ōkeanoîn	τοῖς Ὠκεᾰνοῖς toîs Ōkeanoîs
Accusative	τὸν Ὠκεᾰνόν tòn Ōkeanón	τὼ Ὠκεᾰνώ tṑ Ōkeanṓ	τοὺς Ὠκεᾰνούς toùs Ōkeanoús
Vocative	Ὠκεᾰνέ Ōkeané	Ὠκεᾰνώ Ōkeanṓ	Ὠκεᾰνοί Ōkeanoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of Ὠκεᾰνός; Ὠκεᾰνοῦ (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	Ὠκεᾰνός Ōkeanós	Ὠκεᾰνώ Ōkeanṓ	Ὠκεᾰνοί Ōkeanoí
Genitive	Ὠκεᾰνοῦ / Ὠκεᾰνοῖο / Ὠκεᾰνόο Ōkeanoû / Ōkeanoîo / Ōkeanóo	Ὠκεᾰνοῖῐν Ōkeanoîin	Ὠκεᾰνῶν Ōkeanôn
Dative	Ὠκεᾰνῷ Ōkeanôi	Ὠκεᾰνοῖῐν Ōkeanoîin	Ὠκεᾰνοῖσῐ / Ὠκεᾰνοῖσῐν / Ὠκεᾰνοῖς Ōkeanoîsi(n) / Ōkeanoîs
Accusative	Ὠκεᾰνόν Ōkeanón	Ὠκεᾰνώ Ōkeanṓ	Ὠκεᾰνούς Ōkeanoús
Vocative	Ὠκεᾰνέ Ōkeané	Ὠκεᾰνώ Ōkeanṓ	Ὠκεᾰνοί Ōkeanoí
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

Ὠκεᾰνῐ́ς (Ōkeanís)

Descendants

→ English: ocean, Ocean, Oceanus, Okeanos
Greek: Ωκεανός (Okeanós)
→ Latin: Ōceanus, Ōcianus (Old Latin)
- French: Océan
- Italian: Oceano
- Portuguese: Oceano
- Sicilian: Ucìanu
→ Russian: океа́н (okeán)
→ Turkish: Okyanus
→ Arabic: أُوقْيَانُوس (ʔūqyānūs)
→ Arabic: قاموس

References

^ Joaquín Sanmartín, Glossary of Old Syrian [GlOS] Preprint 7: ʔ - x(ḫ). Updated March 2016, p. 240
^ Bernal, Martin: Black Athena: The archaeological and documentary evidence. Rutgers University Press, 1987, Chapter 7, page 301
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “Ὠκεανός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1677
^ Traced back to Adalbert Kuhn, ὠκεανός, in: Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiet des Deutschen, Griechischen und Lateinischen, vol. 9 (1860), 240, who had refined an earlier suggestion by Theodor Benfey.