δραχμή

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• δᾰρχμᾱ́ (darkhmā́), δᾰρχνᾱ́ (darkhnā́) — Cretan
• δᾰρχμή (darkhmḗ) — Epic

Etymology

Usually explained as a verbal noun of δράσσομαι (drássomai, “to hold, seize”). However, according to Beekes the existence of variant form δαρχμά (darkhmá) and δαρχνά (darkhná) suggest that δραχ- (drakh-) and δαρχ- (darkh-) do not continue zero-grade of Proto-Hellenic *dr̥kʰ-, and instead we're dealing with a substrate word.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /drakʰ.mɛ̌ː/ → /ðraxˈmi/ → /ðraxˈmi/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /drakʰ.mɛ̌ː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /drakʰˈme̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ðraxˈmi/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ðraxˈmi/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ðraxˈmi/

Noun

δρᾰχμή • (drakhmḗ) f (genitive δρᾰχμῆς); first declension

1. drachma
2. drachm

Inflection

First declension of ἡ δρᾰχμή; τῆς δρᾰχμῆς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ δρᾰχμή hē drakhmḗ	τὼ δρᾰχμᾱ́ tṑ drakhmā́	αἱ δρᾰχμαί hai drakhmaí
Genitive	τῆς δρᾰχμῆς tês drakhmês	τοῖν δρᾰχμαῖν toîn drakhmaîn	τῶν δρᾰχμῶν tôn drakhmôn
Dative	τῇ δρᾰχμῇ têi drakhmêi	τοῖν δρᾰχμαῖν toîn drakhmaîn	ταῖς δρᾰχμαῖς taîs drakhmaîs
Accusative	τὴν δρᾰχμήν tḕn drakhmḗn	τὼ δρᾰχμᾱ́ tṑ drakhmā́	τᾱ̀ς δρᾰχμᾱ́ς tā̀s drakhmā́s
Vocative	δρᾰχμή drakhmḗ	δρᾰχμᾱ́ drakhmā́	δρᾰχμαί drakhmaí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• Greek: δραχμή (drachmí)
• → Bactrian: δραχμο (draxmo), δδραχμο (ddraxmo)
• → Khotanese: [script needed] (draṃmaa-)
• → Latin: drachma (see there for further descendants)
• → Middle Persian: 𐭦𐭥𐭦𐭭 (ZWZN /⁠drahm⁠/), 𐫅𐫡𐫍𐫖 (drhm /⁠drahm⁠/)
  • Persian: درم (deram)
    • Tajik: дирам (diram)
      • → English: diram
    • → Kurdish: dirav
    • → Ottoman Turkish: درم (derem)
  • → Arabic: درهم (dirham)
    • → English dirham
    • → Persian: درهم (derham)
      • → Ottoman Turkish: درهم (dirhem)
        • Turkish dirhem
          • → English dirhem
        • → Serbo-Croatian: dìrhem / дѝрхем
  • → Old Armenian: դրամ (dram)
    • Armenian: դրամ (dram)
      • → English dram
    • → Georgian: დრამა (drama)
• → Old Armenian: դրաքմայ (drakʻmay), դրաքմէ (drakʻmē), դրագմէ (dragmē)
• → Sanskrit: द्रम्म (drámma) (see there for further descendants)
• → Sogdian: [script needed] (δrγmh /⁠δraxm(a)⁠/)

References

• “δραχμή”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “δραχμή”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• δραχμή 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
• δραχμή in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• G1406 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.
  • coin idem, page 142.
  • pound idem, page 630.
  • shilling idem, page 766.

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Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ)

Noun

δραχμή • (drachmí) f (plural δραχμές)

1. drachma (former Greek currency 1833-2002)
2. (obsolete as archaic sense) drachma (an ancient unit of weight)

Declension

Declension of δραχμή

	singular	plural
nominative	δραχμή •	δραχμές •
genitive	δραχμής •	δραχμών •
accusative	δραχμή •	δραχμές •
vocative	δραχμή •	δραχμές •

Coordinate terms

• λεπτό m (leptó, “cent”)

Further reading

• δραχμή on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el