καρυόφυλλον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

By surface analysis, κάρυον (káruon, “nut”) +‎ φύλλον (phúllon, “leaf”), but due to the semantic domain and similar terms of this meaning in other languages which did not borrow from Greek, this is evidently a folk-etymological adaptation of a Semitic term from an Indian language; see Arabic قَرَنْفُل (qaranful) for more.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ka.ry.ó.pʰyl.lon/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ka.ryˈo.pʰyl.lon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ka.ryˈo.ɸyl.lon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ka.ryˈo.fyl.lon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ka.riˈo.fi.lon/

Noun

κᾰρῠόφῠλλον • (kărŭóphŭllon) n (genitive κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλου); second declension

clove tree (Syzygium aromaticum)
its dried flower bud

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ κᾰρῠόφῠλλον; τοῦ κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κᾰρῠόφῠλλον tò kărŭóphŭllon	τὼ κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλω tṑ kărŭophŭ́llō	τᾰ̀ κᾰρῠόφῠλλᾰ tằ kărŭóphŭllă
Genitive	τοῦ κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλου toû kărŭophŭ́llou	τοῖν κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλοιν toîn kărŭophŭ́lloin	τῶν κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλων tôn kărŭophŭ́llōn
Dative	τῷ κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλῳ tōî kărŭophŭ́llōi	τοῖν κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλοιν toîn kărŭophŭ́lloin	τοῖς κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλοις toîs kărŭophŭ́llois
Accusative	τὸ κᾰρῠόφῠλλον tò kărŭóphŭllon	τὼ κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλω tṑ kărŭophŭ́llō	τᾰ̀ κᾰρῠόφῠλλᾰ tằ kărŭóphŭllă
Vocative	κᾰρῠόφῠλλον kărŭóphŭllon	κᾰρῠοφῠ́λλω kărŭophŭ́llō	κᾰρῠόφῠλλᾰ kărŭóphŭllă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

→ Bulgarian: калофер (kalofer)
- → Romanian: calomfir
→ Latin: caryophyllus
- → Translingual: Caryophyllus
→ Classical Syriac: ܩܪܦܠܢ, ܩܪܦܠܘܢ

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “κάρυον (> COMP > καρυό-φυλλον)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 651