πτίλον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ψῐ́λον (psílon) — Doric

Etymology

Of uncertain origin, with suggestions including Pre-Greek origin as shown by the alternative form ψίλον (psílon), relation to πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”) (e.g., via a Proto-Indo-European preform *pth₂-il-o-m), or to the Latin pilus (“a hair”).

Related to Mycenaean Greek 𐀠𐀴𐁊𐀸𐀭 (pi-ti-ryo-we-sa /⁠ptilowessa⁠/, “decorated with a feather pattern”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ptí.lon/ → /ˈpti.lon/ → /ˈpti.lon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ptí.lon/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpti.lon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpti.lon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpti.lon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpti.lon/

Noun

πτῐ́λον • (ptílon) n (genitive πτῐ́λου); second declension (Attic)

1. feather, especially a down feather
   • 400 BCE – 200 BCE, Clytus, Collected Works 1
   • 175 CE – 235 CE, Claudius Aelianus, On the Nature of Animals 12.4
   • 450 BCE – 350 BCE, Plato Comicus, Collected Works 97
   • 4th century BC, Eubulus, Collected Works 5
   • 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 21.28.12
   1. the down of a youth's face
      • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On Demosthenes 51
   2. plumelet
      • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 585
      • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 1182
2. wing, properly of insects
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Progression of Animals 713A.10
   1. the wing-like membrane in a kind of serpents
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.76
3. anything like a feather or wing
   1. leaf
      • 200 BCE – 100 BCE, Nicander, Theriaca 524
   2. (in the plural) the sails of a ship
      • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Lycophron, Alexandra 25

Declension

Second declension of τὸ πτῐ́λον; τοῦ πτῐ́λου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ πτῐ́λον tò ptílon	τὼ πτῐ́λω tṑ ptílō	τᾰ̀ πτῐ́λᾰ tà ptíla
Genitive	τοῦ πτῐ́λου toû ptílou	τοῖν πτῐ́λοιν toîn ptíloin	τῶν πτῐ́λων tôn ptílōn
Dative	τῷ πτῐ́λῳ tôi ptílōi	τοῖν πτῐ́λοιν toîn ptíloin	τοῖς πτῐ́λοις toîs ptílois
Accusative	τὸ πτῐ́λον tò ptílon	τὼ πτῐ́λω tṑ ptílō	τᾰ̀ πτῐ́λᾰ tà ptíla
Vocative	πτῐ́λον ptílon	πτῐ́λω ptílō	πτῐ́λᾰ ptíla
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• Ψῐ́λαξ (Psílax) (via the Doric form ψίλον)

Descendants

• Translingual: Pachyptila, Pachyptile, Pachyptilum, Pachyptilus (generic names)
• English: -ptile, ptilo-
• French: ptil-, -ptile
• Latin: ptilo- (New Latin)

References

• “πτίλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πτίλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πτίλον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette