κλείς

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• κλαΐς (klaḯs) – Doric
• κλᾶϊς (klâïs) – Aeolic
• κληΐς (klēḯs) – Ionic
• κλῄς (klḗis) – Attic

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *klāwī́ds, from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂us (“nail, pin, hook - instruments, of old use for locking doors”). Cognate with Latin clāvus (“nail, pin”), Old Church Slavonic ключь (ključĭ, “key”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /klěːs/ → /klis/ → /klis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /klěːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /klis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /klis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /klis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /klis/

Noun

κλείς • (kleís) f (genitive κλειδός); third declension

1. Something used to lock/unlock: key, bolt, bar
2. A means to something: key
3. The hook of a clasp
4. collarbone
5. The rowing bench of a ship (always in plural)
6. A narrow strait or pass

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ κλείς; τῆς κλειδός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κλείς hē kleís	τὼ κλεῖδε tṑ kleîde	αἱ κλεῖδες / κλεῖς hai kleîdes / kleîs
Genitive	τῆς κλειδός tês kleidós	τοῖν κλειδοῖν toîn kleidoîn	τῶν κλειδῶν tôn kleidôn
Dative	τῇ κλειδῐ́ têi kleidí	τοῖν κλειδοῖν toîn kleidoîn	ταῖς κλεισῐ́ / κλεισῐ́ν taîs kleisí(n)
Accusative	τὴν κλεῖδᾰ / κλεῖν tḕn kleîda / kleîn	τὼ κλεῖδε tṑ kleîde	τᾱ̀ς κλεῖδᾰς / κλεῖς tā̀s kleîdas / kleîs
Vocative	κλείς kleís	κλεῖδε kleîde	κλεῖδες / κλεῖς kleîdes / kleîs
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Nominative singular -ς (-s) arose by reduction of the original cluster *-ds.

Derived terms

• κλειδίον (kleidíon)
• κλείω (kleíō)

Descendants

• → Aramaic: קלידא‎
  • Classical Syriac: ܩܠܝܕܐ‎ (qəlīḏāʾ)
  • Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַקְלִידָא‎ (ʾaqlīḏāʾ)
  • → Arabic: إِقْلِيد‎ (ʾiqlīd)
• → Hebrew: קְלִיד‎ (qəlîḏ)
• → Persian: کلید‎ (kelid)
  • Tajik: калид (kalid)
  • → Kurdish: kilîd
  • → Turkish: kilit
  • → Uzbek: kalit

Further reading

• κλείς in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• κλείς in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κλείς 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
• G2807 in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • collar-bone idem, page 143.