ἀδελφή

See also: αδελφή

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἀδελφεά (adelpheá) — Doric
• ἀδελφειή (adelpheiḗ) — Epic
• ἀδελφεή (adelpheḗ) — Ionic

Etymology

Feminine form of ἀδελφός (adelphós, “brother”). Displaced the reflex of Proto-Indo-European *swésōr (“sister”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /a.del.pʰɛ̌ː/ → /a.ðelˈɸi/ → /a.ðelˈfi/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /a.del.pʰɛ̌ː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /a.delˈpʰe̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /a.ðelˈɸi/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /a.ðelˈfi/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /a.ðelˈfi/

Noun

ἀδελφή • (adelphḗ) f (genitive ἀδελφῆς); first declension

1. sister
2. some other female relation, such as wife or cousin

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ἀδελφή; τῆς ἀδελφῆς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἀδελφή hē adelphḗ	τὼ ἀδελφᾱ́ tṑ adelphā́	αἱ ἀδελφαί hai adelphaí
Genitive	τῆς ἀδελφῆς tês adelphês	τοῖν ἀδελφαῖν toîn adelphaîn	τῶν ἀδελφῶν tôn adelphôn
Dative	τῇ ἀδελφῇ têi adelphêi	τοῖν ἀδελφαῖν toîn adelphaîn	ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς taîs adelphaîs
Accusative	τὴν ἀδελφήν tḕn adelphḗn	τὼ ἀδελφᾱ́ tṑ adelphā́	τᾱ̀ς ἀδελφᾱ́ς tā̀s adelphā́s
Vocative	ἀδελφή adelphḗ	ἀδελφᾱ́ adelphā́	ἀδελφαί adelphaí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Coordinate terms

• ἀδελφός (adelphós, “brother”)

Descendants

• Greek: αδελφή (adelfí) or αδερφή (aderfí)

Further reading

• “ἀδελφή”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀδελφή”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἀδελφή in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ἀδελφή in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• G79 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • sister idem, page 779.