προβοσκίς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From προ- (pro-, “before, in front of”) +‎ βόσκω (bóskō, “I feed, I graze”) +‎ -ις (-is, suffix to form a feminine noun).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pro.bos.kís/ → /pro.βosˈcis/ → /pro.vosˈcis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pro.bos.kís/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /pro.bosˈkis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /pro.βosˈcis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /pro.vosˈcis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /pro.vosˈcis/

Noun

προβοσκίς • (proboskís) f (genitive προβοσκίδος); third declension

1. means of providing food
   1. elephant’s trunk
      1. fly’s proboscis
   2. (in the plural) tentacles of the decapod cephalopoda

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ προβοσκῐ́ς; τῆς προβοσκῐ́δος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ προβοσκῐ́ς hē proboskís	τὼ προβοσκῐ́δε tṑ proboskíde	αἱ προβοσκῐ́δες hai proboskídes
Genitive	τῆς προβοσκῐ́δος tês proboskídos	τοῖν προβοσκῐ́δοιν toîn proboskídoin	τῶν προβοσκῐ́δων tôn proboskídōn
Dative	τῇ προβοσκῐ́δῐ têi proboskídi	τοῖν προβοσκῐ́δοιν toîn proboskídoin	ταῖς προβοσκῐ́σῐ / προβοσκῐ́σῐν taîs proboskísi(n)
Accusative	τὴν προβοσκῐ́δᾰ tḕn proboskída	τὼ προβοσκῐ́δε tṑ proboskíde	τᾱ̀ς προβοσκῐ́δᾰς tā̀s proboskídas
Vocative	προβοσκῐ́ς proboskís	προβοσκῐ́δε proboskíde	προβοσκῐ́δες proboskídes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Nominative singular -ς (-s) arose by reduction of the original cluster *-ds.

Descendants

• ⇒ Greek: προβοσκίδα (provoskída)
• → Latin: proboscis

References

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