ἐλέφας

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Ancient Greek

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Probably borrowed from Egyptian ꜣbw

AbbwE26

(reconstructed as earlier /'lu:bu ~ 'lu:baw/, later /ˈʔeːbə/).[1] Cognate with Mycenaean Greek 𐀁𐀩𐀞 (e-re-pa /⁠elephās⁠/); compare also Hittite 𒆷𒄴𒉺𒀸 (laḫpaš, ivory), Proto-Berber *eḷu, and Sanskrit इभ (íbha).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ἐλέφᾱς (eléphāsm or f (genitive ἐλέφαντος); third declension

  1. elephant
  2. (masculine) ivory

Usage notes

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  • Two irregular forms are attested:
    • A genitive singular ἐλεφάντου in an inscription found in Delos from the 2nd cent. BCE:
      • Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 35.286:
        ἐλεφάντου λεπτοῦ τάλαντον δαψιλές
        elephántou leptoû tálanton dapsilés
        a full talent of finely worked ivory
    • A dative plural ἐλεφάντοις in the Septuagint, 1 Maccabees 1.17, as a variant reading for regular ἐλέφασι(ν).

Inflection

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἐλέφας, -αντος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 409-10

Further reading

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