xiphias

See also Xiphias

English

WOTD – 26 April 2011    

Etymology

From Latin xiphias.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈzɪfɪəs/

Noun

xiphias

1. A swordfish.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.xii:

     Huge Ziffius, whom Mariners eschew / No lesse, then rockes, as travellers informe [...].

   • 1700, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol 3, p. 38:

     S. Malpighi having dissected the Head of a Xiphias or Sword Fish, which hath a very big Eye, observ'd that the middle of the Optick Nerve is nothing else, but a large Membrane, folded according to its length in many Doubles almost like a Fan, and invested by the Dura Mater.

   • 1857, Bostock & Riley, trans. Pliny, Natural History, 32.vi:

     Trebius Niger informs us that [...] the xiphias, or, in other words, the sword-fish, has a sharp-pointed muzzle, with which it is able to pierce the sides of a ship and send it to the bottom [...].

   • 1863, Prof. Huxley, "Structure and development of the vertebrate skeleton", The Lancet, 23 May 1863:

     In the xiphias, you observe, the enormous elongation of the head is produced by the elongation of the jaws proper – that is to say, of the pre-maxilla and nasal bones.

Translations

xiphias — see swordfish

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Latin

Wikipedia ^la

xiphiās (a swordfish)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ξιφίας "sword-shaped", from ξίφος "sword".

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈksi.pʰi.aːs/

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

xiphiās (genitive xiphiae); m, first declension

1. a swordfish, Xiphias gladius
2. a sword-shaped comet

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	xiphiās	xiphiae
genitive	xiphiae	xiphiārum
dative	xiphiae	xiphiīs
accusative	xiphiān	xiphiās
ablative	xiphiā	xiphiīs
vocative	xiphiā	xiphiae

Synonyms

• (swordfish): gladius

Related terms

• xiphion

Descendants

• Translingual: Xiphias