βάτραχος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Seemingly imitative of croaking, but this imitation has probably taken place not in Greek, but that Greek has borrowed from Pre-Greek or Semitic; compare Hebrew צְפַרְדֵּעַ‎ (ṣəp̄ardḗaʿ), Arabic ضَفْدَع‎ (ḍafdaʿ), considering that in the dialect of Zakynthos the frog is matching the Semitic with σπορδακάς (spordakás) – unless of course one must find that Semitic and Greek have borrowed from an unknown third.

Concerning the wide range of dialectal variation, Beekes explains that much may be due to folk etymology or taboo, combined with other phonetic alterations such as vowel displacement and even prenasalization, which indicate substrate origin: “A priori, a local (i.e. Pre-Greek) form is to be expected for all of these forms; the variation α/ο points to this.” The suffix *-χ- (*-kh-) is also found in names of other animals.

An older hypothesis (cf. Pokorny 1959) links Proto-West Germanic *krodu and Latin bruscus (“frog or toad”), all from a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *gʷredʰ- (“frog, toad”), supposing metathesis (cf. Ionic βρόταχος (brótakhos)) and an original *dʰ whence perhaps the /tʰ/ of the Ionic variant βάθρακος (báthrakos), but this is phonetically very difficult. Moreover, as Beekes explains, the form with /t/ is original, whereas Ionic frequently displaces aspiration in this way.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bá.tra.kʰos/ → /ˈβa.tra.xos/ → /ˈva.tra.xos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bá.tra.kʰos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈba.tra.kʰos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβa.tra.xos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈva.tra.xos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈva.tra.xos/

Noun

βᾰ́τρᾰχος • (bátrakhos) m (genitive βᾰτρᾰ́χου); second declension

1. frog
   • Aristophanes, Frogs, 207.

     βατράχων κύκνων θαυμαστά.

     batrákhōn kúknōn thaumastá.

     Most amazing [songs] by the swanlike frogs.

2. anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius)

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ βᾰ́τρᾰχος; τοῦ βᾰτρᾰ́χου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ βᾰ́τρᾰχος ho bátrakhos	τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω tṑ batrákhō	οἱ βᾰ́τρᾰχοι hoi bátrakhoi
Genitive	τοῦ βᾰτρᾰ́χου toû batrákhou	τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν toîn batrákhoin	τῶν βᾰτρᾰ́χων tôn batrákhōn
Dative	τῷ βᾰτρᾰ́χῳ tôi batrákhōi	τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν toîn batrákhoin	τοῖς βᾰτρᾰ́χοις toîs batrákhois
Accusative	τὸν βᾰ́τρᾰχον tòn bátrakhon	τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω tṑ batrákhō	τοὺς βᾰτρᾰ́χους toùs batrákhous
Vocative	βᾰ́τρᾰχε bátrakhe	βᾰτρᾰ́χω batrákhō	βᾰ́τρᾰχοι bátrakhoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• βατράχιον (batrákhion)
• βατραχομυομαχία (batrakhomuomakhía)

Descendants

• Greek: βάτραχος (vátrachos)
• Translingual: Batrachus, Batrachia

References

• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “βάτραχος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 206–207
• Brown, John Pairman (1995) Israel and Hellas (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft; 231), volume I, Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, page 336
• Brown, John Pairman (2000) Israel and Hellas (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft; 276), volume II, Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, page 60

Further reading

• βάτραχος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• βάτραχος in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βάτραχος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βάτραχος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2021)
• G944 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, page 346

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Greek

Alternative forms

• (diminutive): βατράχι (vatráchi)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βάτραχος (bátrakhos, “frog”).

Noun

βάτραχος • (vátrachos) m (plural βάτραχοι)

1. frog

Declension

declension of βάτραχος

	singular	plural
nominative	βάτραχος •	βάτραχοι •
genitive	βατράχου •	βατράχων •
accusative	βάτραχο •	βατράχους •
vocative	βάτραχε •	βάτραχοι •

Derived terms

• βατράχι n (vatráchi, “froglet”)
• βατραχάκι n (vatracháki, “frog”)
• βατραχάνθρωπος m (vatrachánthropos, “frogman”)
• βατραχοπέδιλο n (vatrachopédilo, “flipper”)
• βατραχοφάγος (vatrachofágos, “frog eating”, adjective)

Further reading

• βάτραχος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el