Constantinopolis

English

Etymology

From Middle English Constantinopolis, from Latin Cōnstantīnopolis, from Ancient Greek Κωνστᾰντῑνούπολῐς (Kōnstantīnoúpolis).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒn.stæn.tɪˈnɒ.pə.lɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒn.stæn.tɪˈnɑ.pə.lɪs/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒn.stæn.tɪˈnɑ.pə.ləs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒpəlɪs
• Hyphenation: Con‧stan‧ti‧no‧po‧lis

Proper noun

Constantinopolis

1. Alternative form of Constantinople
   • 1938, H. P. Lovecraft, “Ibid”, in The O-Wash-Ta-Nong: An Amateur Journal, volume 3, number 1, page 11:

     About 541 he removed to Constantinopolis, where he received every mark of imperial favour both from Justinianus and Justinus the Second.

   • 1999, Suraiya Faroqhi, Approaching Ottoman History: An Introduction to the Sources, page 124:

     Thus the Roman emperor Severus had destroyed the Hellenistic city; as to the emperor Constantine, he tore down pagan monuments to rebuild Byzantium as Constantinopolis, the capital of a Christian empire.

   • 2014, Sarah Bassett, “Collecting and the Creation of History”, in Museum Archetypes and Collecting in the Ancient World, page 154:

     Like the monuments culled from the cities and sanctuaries of the Roman world, the relics of Constantinopolis created a history for the city both through individual identity and their status as appropriated objects.

   • 2015, Lucy Grig, “Competing Capitals”, in Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity, page 43:

     Nonetheless, in the fourth century, Roma began to appear in a new guise, in a whole series of official images from coins to consular diptychs, more or less twinned with her upstart “sister”, Constantinopolis.

Latin

Alternative forms

• CON

Etymology

From Koine Greek Κωνστᾰντῑνούπολῐς (Kōnstantīnoúpolis, “city of Constantine”), from Ancient Greek πόλῐς (pólis, “city”) + Κωνστᾰντῑ́νου (Kōnstantī́nou, “of Constantine”), a name borrowed from Latin Cōnstantīnus, from cōnstāns (“constant, steadfast”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kon.stan.tiːˈno.po.lis/, [kõːs̠t̪än̪t̪iːˈnɔpɔlʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kon.stan.tiˈno.po.lis/, [konst̪än̪t̪iˈnɔːpolis]

Proper noun

Cōnstantīnopolis f sg (genitive Cōnstantīnopolis or Cōnstantīnopoleos or Cōnstantīnopolios); third declension

1. (Late Latin) Constantinople; ancient city on the Bosporus founded as Byzantium c. 660 BC, rechristened as Constantine's new imperial capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire, named Constantinople from c. AD 330 to 1930; now called Istanbul

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem, partially Greek-type), with locative, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Cōnstantīnopolis
Genitive	Cōnstantīnopolis Cōnstantīnopoleos Cōnstantīnopolios
Dative	Cōnstantīnopolī
Accusative	Cōnstantīnopolim Cōnstantīnopolin
Ablative	Cōnstantīnopolī
Vocative	Cōnstantīnopolis Cōnstantīnopolī
Locative	Cōnstantīnopolī

Synonyms

• Bȳzantium
• Nova Rōma

Descendants

• → French: Constantinople
• → Korean: 콘스탄티노폴리스 (konseutantinopolliseu)

References

• “Constantinopolis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Constantinopolis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Proper noun

Constantinopolis

1. Alternative form of Constantinople
   • (a. 1387), Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1) 1.179:

     Constantinopolis..was somtyme þe cheef citee of þe Est, riʒt as Rome was of þe West.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)