ὀσφῦς

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ὀσφῡ́ς (osphū́s)

Etymology

The formation is similar to ἰξύς (ixús) and νηδύς (nēdús). Often connected with ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”); however, Furnée adduces φύς (phús, “loins”), pointing to a Pre-Greek prothetic vowel. He also accepts the connection with ψόα (psóa, “loin muscles”), which was suggested already by Prellwitz.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /os.pʰŷːs/ → /osˈɸys/ → /osˈfis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /os.pʰŷːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /osˈpʰys/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /osˈɸys/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /osˈfys/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /osˈfis/

Noun

ὀσφῦς • (osphûs) f (genitive ὀσφύος); third declension

1. (anatomy) hips or loins, lower part of the back

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ ὀσφῦς; τῆς ὀσφῠός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ὀσφῦς hē osphûs	τὼ ὀσφῠ́ε tṑ osphúe	αἱ ὀσφῠ́ες hai osphúes
Genitive	τῆς ὀσφῠός tês osphuós	τοῖν ὀσφῠοῖν toîn osphuoîn	τῶν ὀσφῠῶν tôn osphuôn
Dative	τῇ ὀσφῠῐ̈́ têi osphuḯ	τοῖν ὀσφῠοῖν toîn osphuoîn	ταῖς ὀσφῡσῐ́ / ὀσφῡσῐ́ν / ὀσφῠσῐ́ / ὀσφῠσῐ́ν taîs osphūsí(n) / osphusí(n)
Accusative	τὴν ὀσφῦν tḕn osphûn	τὼ ὀσφῠ́ε tṑ osphúe	τᾱ̀ς ὀσφῦς / ὀσφῠ́ᾰς tā̀s osphûs / osphúas
Vocative	ὀσφῦ osphû	ὀσφῠ́ε osphúe	ὀσφῠ́ες osphúes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ὀσφυαλγέω (osphualgéō)
• ὀσφυαλγής (osphualgḗs)
• ὀσφυαλγία (osphualgía)
• ὀσφύδιον (osphúdion)
• ὀσφυήξ (osphuḗx)

 

Descendants

• Greek: οσφύς (osfýs)

Further reading

• “ὀσφῦς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ὀσφῦς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• G3751 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible