βδέλλα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From βδάλλω (bdállō, “I milk”, (in the middle voice, of a cow) “I yield to milking”; “I suck”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bdél.la/ → /ˈβðel.la/ → /ˈvðe.la/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bdél.la/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈbdel.la/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβðel.la/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈvðel.la/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈvðe.la/

Noun

βδέλλᾰ • (bdélla) f (genitive βδέλλης); first declension

1. leech
   1. lamprey
2. bdellium

Inflection

First declension of ἡ βδέλλᾰ; τῆς βδέλλης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ βδέλλᾰ hē bdélla	τὼ βδέλλᾱ tṑ bdéllā	αἱ βδέλλαι hai bdéllai
Genitive	τῆς βδέλλης tês bdéllēs	τοῖν βδέλλαιν toîn bdéllain	τῶν βδελλῶν tôn bdellôn
Dative	τῇ βδέλλῃ têi bdéllēi	τοῖν βδέλλαιν toîn bdéllain	ταῖς βδέλλαις taîs bdéllais
Accusative	τὴν βδέλλᾰν tḕn bdéllan	τὼ βδέλλᾱ tṑ bdéllā	τᾱ̀ς βδέλλᾱς tā̀s bdéllās
Vocative	βδέλλᾰ bdélla	βδέλλᾱ bdéllā	βδέλλαι bdéllai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Synonyms

• (bdellium): βδέλλῐον (bdéllion)

Descendants

• Albanian: abdhellë
• English: bdellatomy
• French: bdellomètre
• Greek: βδέλλα (vdélla)

References

• “βδέλλα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “βδέλλα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βδέλλα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βδέλλα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • leech idem, page 484.

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Greek

Alternative forms

• αβδέλλα f (avdélla) (colloquial)

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek βδέλλα (bdélla, “leech”).

Noun

βδέλλα • (vdélla) f (plural βδέλλες)

1. leech
2. (figuratively) sticker
3. (figuratively) leech, parasite

Declension

Declension of βδέλλα

	singular	plural
nominative	βδέλλα •	βδέλλες •
genitive	βδέλλας •	βδελλών •
accusative	βδέλλα •	βδέλλες •
vocative	βδέλλα •	βδέλλες •

Synonyms

• (parasite): παράσιτο n (parásito, “parasite”)

Related terms

• αβδελλιάζω (avdelliázo, “infested by leeches”)
• βδελλιάζω (vdelliázo, “infested by leeches”)

 

Further reading

• βδέλλα on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el