alphabetum

Latin

Etymology

From Byzantine Greek ἀλφάβητον (alphábēton) from the accusative of Koine Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos) from Ancient Greek ἄλφα (álpha, “alpha”) + βῆτα (bêta, “beta”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /al.pʰaˈbeː.tum/, [äɫ̪pʰäˈbeːt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /al.faˈbe.tum/, [älfäˈbɛːt̪um]

Noun

alphabētum n (genitive alphabētī); second declension

1. alphabet

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	alphabētum	alphabēta
Genitive	alphabētī	alphabētōrum
Dative	alphabētō	alphabētīs
Accusative	alphabētum	alphabēta
Ablative	alphabētō	alphabētīs
Vocative	alphabētum	alphabēta

Descendants

• Asturian: alfabetu
• Catalan: alfabet
• → English: alphabet
• → French: alphabet
  • → Polish: alfabet
• Galician: alfabeto
• → Italian: alfabeto
• Occitan: alfabet
• → Portuguese: alfabeto
• Romanian: alfabet
• Sicilian: alfabbetu
• → Spanish: alfabeto
  • → Bikol Central: alpabeto
  • → Cebuano: alpabeto
  • → Tagalog: alpabeto
• → Ukrainian: альфабет (alʹfabet)

References

• “alphabetum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• alphabetum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• alphabetum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.