aphye

Latin

Alternative forms

• apua

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀφύη (aphúē).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.pʰy.eː/, [ˈäpʰyeː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.fi.e/, [ˈäːfie]

Noun

aphyē f (genitive aphyēs); first declension

1. small fry of fish, in particular, the anchovy
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 31.44.97:

     vitium huius est allex atque inperfecta nec colata faex. coepit tamen et privatim ex inutili pisciculo minimoque confici. apuam nostri, aphyen Graeci vocant, quoniam is pisciculus e pluvia nascatur.

     • Translation by W. H. S. Jones

       Allex is sediment of garum, the dregs, neither whole nor strained. It has, however, also begun to be made separately from a tiny fish, otherwise of no use. The Romans call it apua, the Greeks aphye, because this tiny fish is bred out of rain.

Declension

First-declension noun (Greek-type).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	aphyē	aphyae
Genitive	aphyēs	aphyārum
Dative	aphyae	aphyīs
Accusative	aphyēn	aphyās
Ablative	aphyē	aphyīs
Vocative	aphyē	aphyae

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: *apiuva, *apiua
  • (perhaps) Ligurian: anciôa (see there for further descendants)

References

• “aphye”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “aphye”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers