Βόσπορος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unknown. Reinterpreted (by the ancient Greeks) as βοός (boós, “cow”) + πόρος (póros, “passage”) and given a folk etymology to place it within Greek mythology.

The folk etymology refers to the myth of Io (told, for example, by Aeschylus in his Prometheus Bound), in which she travelled there after being turned into a heifer by Hera (or in other versions by Zeus). (See Io (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia )

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bós.po.ros/ → /ˈβos.po.ros/ → /ˈvos.po.ros/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bós.po.ros/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈbos.po.ros/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβos.po.ros/
• (10^th CE Medieval) IPA^(key): /ˈvos.po.ros/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈvos.po.ros/

Proper noun

Βόσπορος • (Bósporos) m (genitive Βοσπόρου); second declension

1. Bosporus

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ Βόσπορος; τοῦ Βοσπόρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ὁ Βόσπορος ho Bósporos
Genitive	τοῦ Βοσπόρου toû Bospórou
Dative	τῷ Βοσπόρῳ tōî Bospórōi
Accusative	τὸν Βόσπορον tòn Bósporon
Vocative	Βόσπορε Bóspore
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• Βοσπόρειος (Bospóreios)
• Βοσπορίτης (Bosporítēs)

Descendants

• Greek: Βόσπορος (Vósporos)
• → Latin: Bosporus (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “Βόσπορος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “Βόσπορος” in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,004