ἰχθύς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰu-, compare Old Armenian ձուկն (jukn) and Lithuanian žuvis. This may be disputed however in light of Hebrew דָּג (dag) and Ugaritic *... (dagu), ... (dg), both meaning 'fish', suggesting instead a borrowing.

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /ikʰtʰy͜ýs/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /ikʰtʰýːs/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /ixθýs/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /ixtýs/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan): IPA: /ixtís/

Noun

ἰχθύς (genitive ἰχθύος) m, third declension; (ikhthūs)

1. fish
2. (figuratively) stupid person
3. (plural) fish market

Inflection

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἰχθύς	τὼ ἰχθύε	οἱ ἰχθύες
Genitive	τοῦ ἰχθύος	τοῖν ἰχθύοιν	τῶν ἰχθύων
Dative	τῷ ἰχθύϊ	τοῖν ἰχθύοιν	τοῖς ἰχθύσῐ(ν)
Accusative	τὸν ἰχθύν	τὼ ἰχθύε	τοὺς ἰχθῦς
Vocative	ἰχθύ	ἰχθύε	ἰχθύες

Usage notes

Alternative inflected forms exist such as ἰχθῦς (ikhtus) as nominative singular or plural, and ἰχθύας (ikhthúas) as accusative plural.

References

• LSJ
• Bauer lexicon
• Strong’s concordance number: G2486