δάκτυλος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Uncertain; probably Pre-Greek. Possibly related to Latin digitus, though the details are unclear.^[1] Note also Boeotian Greek δακκύλιος (dakkúlios).

The sense "date" is probably a folk-etymological alteration of a word from a Semitic source such as Arabic دَقَل (daqal, “variety of date palm”) or Hebrew דֶּקֶל (deqel, “date palm”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /dák.ty.los/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈdak.ty.los/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈðak.ty.los/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈðak.ty.los/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈðak.ti.los/

Noun

δᾰ́κτῠλος • (dắktŭlos) m (genitive δᾰκτῠ́λου); second declension

finger
1. toe
measure of length, the breadth of a finger, about 7/10 of an inch
1. dactyl, a metrical foot
2. (in the plural) a dance
date (fruit)
type of grape

Declension

Second declension of ὁ δᾰ́κτῠλος; τοῦ δᾰκτῠ́λου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ δᾰ́κτῠλος ho dắktŭlos	τὼ δᾰκτῠ́λω tṑ dăktŭ́lō	οἱ δᾰ́κτῠλοι hoi dắktŭloi
Genitive	τοῦ δᾰκτῠ́λου toû dăktŭ́lou	τοῖν δᾰκτῠ́λοιν toîn dăktŭ́loin	τῶν δᾰκτῠ́λων tôn dăktŭ́lōn
Dative	τῷ δᾰκτῠ́λῳ tôi dăktŭ́lōi	τοῖν δᾰκτῠ́λοιν toîn dăktŭ́loin	τοῖς δᾰκτῠ́λοις toîs dăktŭ́lois
Accusative	τὸν δᾰ́κτῠλον tòn dắktŭlon	τὼ δᾰκτῠ́λω tṑ dăktŭ́lō	τοὺς δᾰκτῠ́λους toùs dăktŭ́lous
Vocative	δᾰ́κτῠλε dắktŭle	δᾰκτῠ́λω dăktŭ́lō	δᾰ́κτῠλοι dắktŭloi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Poetic Greek uses δᾰ́κτῠλᾰ (dắktŭlă) as a plural.

Derived terms

βρᾰχῠδᾰ́κτῠλος (brăkhŭdắktŭlos)
δακτύλιος (daktúlios)
δᾰκτῠλοειδής (dăktŭloeidḗs)
δᾰκτῠλόπους (dăktŭlópous)
ἑρμοδάκτυλον (hermodáktulon)
πᾰχῠδᾰ́κτῠλος (păkhŭdắktŭlos)

Descendants

English: dactyl, dactylo-
French: dactyle
Greek: δάχτυλο (dáchtylo)
Russian: да́ктиль (dáktilʹ)
→ Translingual: -dactylus

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “δάκτυλος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 300

“δάκτυλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“δάκτυλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
δάκτυλος 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
δάκτυλος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
G1147 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.
- dactyl idem, page 193.
- finger idem, page 321.
- inch idem, page 428.
- toe idem, page 880.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “δάκτυλος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 300

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