σποδός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Uncertain:

• Furnée connects ἄσβολος (ásbolos, “soot”) and σπολεύς (spoleús, “loaf”), the former with a prothetic vowel α-, and both showing a variation δ~λ. This view is followed by Beekes, who posits a Pre-Greek origin.

• Frisk and Chantraine leave the origin open, with Frisk rejecting an older proposal by Grošelj, who connected σκυδμαίνω (skudmaínō), σκύζομαι (skúzomai), and σκυθρός (skuthrós), and recontructed *skʷodós (“something crushed or ground”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /spo.dós/ → /spoˈðos/ → /spoˈðos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /spo.dós/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /spoˈdos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /spoˈðos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /spoˈðos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /spoˈðos/

Noun

σποδός • (spodós) f (genitive σποδοῦ); second declension

1. wood ashes, ember
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.375–376:

     καὶ τότ’ ἐγὼ τὸν μοχλὸν ὑπὸ σποδοῦ ἤλασα πολλῆς / ἧος θερμαίνοιτο

     kaì tót’ egṑ tòn mokhlòn hupò spodoû ḗlasa pollês / hêos thermaínoito

     And then I thrust the stake deep under the ashes / until it should grow hot

2. dust
   • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.172:

     οἱ δὲ τῆς χαμᾶθεν σποδοῦ λαβόντες λείχουσι.

     hoi dè tês khamâthen spodoû labóntes leíkhousi.

     They, taking dust from the earth, lick that.

3. oxide on certain metals
4. lava

Inflection

Second declension of ἡ σποδός; τῆς σποδοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ σποδός hē spodós	τὼ σποδώ tṑ spodṓ	αἱ σποδοί hai spodoí
Genitive	τῆς σποδοῦ tês spodoû	τοῖν σποδοῖν toîn spodoîn	τῶν σποδῶν tôn spodôn
Dative	τῇ σποδῷ tēî spodōî	τοῖν σποδοῖν toîn spodoîn	ταῖς σποδοῖς taîs spodoîs
Accusative	τὴν σποδόν tḕn spodón	τὼ σποδώ tṑ spodṓ	τᾱ̀ς σποδούς tā̀s spodoús
Vocative	σποδέ spodé	σποδώ spodṓ	σποδοί spodoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• διασποδέω (diaspodéō)
• ἔνσποδος (énspodos)
• σποδέω (spodéō)
• σποδιά (spodiá)
• σποδιαῖος (spodiaîos)
• σποδιακός (spodiakós)
• σποδιάς (spodiás)
• σποδίζω (spodízō)
• σπόδιον (spódion)
• σποδίτης (spodítēs)
• σποδιώδης (spodiṓdēs)
• σποδοειδής (spodoeidḗs)
• σποδόομαι (spodóomai)
• σποδώδης (spodṓdēs)

Descendants

• Latin: spodos

Further reading

• “σποδός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σποδός in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN