Βενδῖς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

According to Hawkins, no explanation proposed hitherto looks entirely plausible. He suggests to connect the theonym with Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”), the same root of Latin Venus: this theory is interesting but not very convincing. Phonologically, the rendering of *u̯- as b- in Thracian seems to be indeed possible, but this etymology does not comply with the main and most essential characteristic of the goddess, her association with hunting. On the other hand, Tomaschek prefers connecting the word with Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind”), which is fully compatible with hunting associations. First, the name can be interpreted simply as "Binder" and refers to the goddess' ability to tame wild animals. Second, the meaning of *bʰendʰ- might develop to the notion of "catching": in this case, the name would mean "Catcher", "Huntress". A third, more speculative possibility would be to assume that in Thracian the development of *bʰendʰ- has taken a similar turn as in Old English bindan (“to bind”), bendan (“to stretch a bow”) and that at the base of the name lies a noun "bow": in this case Bendis would mean "Archer".

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ben.dîːs/ → /βenˈdis/ → /venˈdis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ben.dîːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /benˈdis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /βenˈdis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /venˈdis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /venˈdis/

Proper noun

Βενδῖς • (Bendîs) f (genitive Βενδῖδος); third declension

1. Bendis, a Thracian goddess identified with Artemis

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ Βενδῖς; τῆς Βενδῖδος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ἡ Βενδῖς hē Bendîs
Genitive	τῆς Βενδῖδος tês Bendîdos
Dative	τῇ Βενδῖδῐ têi Bendîdi
Accusative	τὴν Βενδῖδᾰ tḕn Bendîda
Vocative	Βενδῖς Bendîs
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.

Derived terms

• Βενδῑ́δειον (Bendī́deion)
• Βενδῑ́δῐος (Bendī́dios)

 

Descendants

• → Latin: Bendīs

Further reading

• Βενδῖς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Βενδῖς in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)