σαῦρος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Variant of σαύρα (saúra, “lizard”). Others have suggested the word as a variant of σαῦλος (saûlos, “turning, twisting”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /sâu̯.ros/ → /ˈsa.βros/ → /ˈsa.vros/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /sâu̯.ros/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈsaw.ros/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.βros/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.vros/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.vros/

Noun

σαῦρος • (saûros) m (genitive σαύρου); second declension

1. Alternative form of σαύρᾱ (saúrā, “lizard”)
2. horse mackerel, jack mackerel
   • 375 BCE – 275 BCE, Alexis 133.1
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 610b.5
   • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Collected Works 6.720

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ σαῦρος; τοῦ σαύρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ σαῦρος ho saûros	τὼ σαύρω tṑ saúrō	οἱ σαῦροι hoi saûroi
Genitive	τοῦ σαύρου toû saúrou	τοῖν σαύροιν toîn saúroin	τῶν σαύρων tôn saúrōn
Dative	τῷ σαύρῳ tôi saúrōi	τοῖν σαύροιν toîn saúroin	τοῖς σαύροις toîs saúrois
Accusative	τὸν σαῦρον tòn saûron	τὼ σαύρω tṑ saúrō	τοὺς σαύρους toùs saúrous
Vocative	σαῦρε saûre	σαύρω saúrō	σαῦροι saûroi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Synonyms

• τρᾱ́χουρος (trā́khouros, “horse mackerel”)

Descendants

• Byzantine Greek: σαυρίς (saurís), σαυρίδιον (saurídion)
  • Greek: σαυρίδι (savrídi), σταυρίδι (stavrídi), σαφρίδι (safrídi)
    • → Ottoman Turkish: استاورید (istavrid)
      • Turkish: istavrit
    • → Belarusian: стаўры́да f (staŭrýda)
    • → Bulgarian: сафри́д m (safríd)
    • → Russian: ставри́да f (stavrída) (later half of 19^th century), rarely страври́да (stravrída)
    • → Ukrainian: ставри́да f (stavrýda)
• → Latin:
  • Galician: xurelo
• → New Latin: -saurus (learned)
  • → Translingual: -saurus
    • → English: -saurus, -saur
• → Translingual: Saurus

Further reading

• “σαῦρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σαῦρος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Frisk, Hjalmar (1970) “σαῦρος”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 683