κύβος

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Ancient Greek

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Etymology

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Difficult to trace. The word passed to and from a number of languages (compare Latin cubus (mass, quantity; cube)).

Often thought to be derived from the root Proto-Indo-European *kewbh₂- (to lie down (actively)), reconstructed in LIV based on Latin cubō (to lie down (passively)) and some other verb forms. Compare Proto-Germanic *hupiz (hip) and Latin cubitus (elbow), and (formally unrelated) Ancient Greek ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos, astragalus bone, knucklebone; dice (made from a knucklebone)) for the semantic connection between “vertebra, bone (of an animal)” and “die, dice”. Animal bones were historically used as playing dice.

According to Beekes, words for dice are often loans and the Lydians claimed to have invented the game of κύβος (kúbos), suggesting a possible loan from Lydian.[1]

Appears to have no relation to Arabic كَعْبَة (kaʕba).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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κύβος (kúbosm (genitive κύβου); second declension

  1. (geometry) square
  2. (geometry) cube
  3. die, dice
    • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Julius Caesar 32:
      τέλος δὲ μετὰ θυμοῦ τινος ὥσπερ ἀφεὶς ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ λογισμοῦ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον, καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ κοινὸν τοῖς εἰς τύχας ἐμβαίνουσιν ἀπόρους καὶ τόλμας προοίμιον ὑπειπὼν, “Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος,” ὥρμησε πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν καὶ δρόμῳ τὸ λοιπὸν ἤδη χρώμενος εἰσέπεσε πρὸ ἡμέρας εἰς τὸ Ἀρίμινον καὶ κατέσχε.
      télos dè metà thumoû tinos hṓsper apheìs heautòn ek toû logismoû pròs tò méllon, kaì toûto dḕ tò koinòn toîs eis túkhas embaínousin apórous kaì tólmas prooímion hupeipṑn, “Anerrhíphthō kúbos,” hṓrmēse pròs tḕn diábasin kaì drómōi tò loipòn ḗdē khrṓmenos eisépese prò hēméras eis tò Aríminon kaì katéskhe.
      • 1919 translation by Bernadotte Perrin
        But finally, with a sort of passion, as if abandoning calculation and casting himself upon the future, and uttering the phrase with which men usually prelude their plunge into desperate and daring fortunes, “Let the die be cast,” he hastened to cross the river; and going at full speed now for the rest of the time, before daybreak he dashed into Ariminum and took possession of it. [– See the die is cast.]
  4. chance
  5. (mathematics) cube, cubic number
  6. (anatomy) vertebra; hollow above the hip of cattle

Inflection

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Greek: κύβος (kývos)
  • Latin: cubus
  • Russian: куб (kub)
  • Classical Syriac: ܩܘܒܘܣ (qwbws /⁠qūbōs⁠/, cube)
    • Arabic: قوبوس (/⁠qūbōs⁠/, cube)

References

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

Further reading

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Greek

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos).

Noun

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κύβος (kývosm (plural κύβοι)

  1. (geometry) cube

Declension

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Derived terms

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