χήν

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• χᾱ́ν (khā́n) — Doric

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *kʰā́n, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns (“goose”). Cognates include Sanskrit हंस (haṃsá), Latin ānser, Russian гусь (gusʹ), Old English gōs (English goose), and Albanian gatë (“heron”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰɛ̌ːn/ → /ˈçin/ → /ˈçin/

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

Noun

χήν • (khḗn) m or f (genitive χηνός); third declension

1. goose

Declension

Third declension of ὁ / ἡ χήν; τοῦ / τῆς χηνός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ / ἡ χήν ho / hē khḗn	τὼ χῆνε tṑ khêne	οἱ / αἱ χῆνες hoi / hai khênes
Genitive	τοῦ / τῆς χηνός toû / tês khēnós	τοῖν χηνοῖν toîn khēnoîn	τῶν χηνῶν tôn khēnôn
Dative	τῷ / τῇ χηνῐ́ tōî / tēî khēnĭ́	τοῖν χηνοῖν toîn khēnoîn	τοῖς / ταῖς χησῐ́ / χησῐ́ν toîs / taîs khēsĭ́(n)
Accusative	τὸν / τὴν χῆνᾰ tòn / tḕn khênă	τὼ χῆνε tṑ khêne	τοὺς / τᾱ̀ς χῆνᾰς toùs / tā̀s khênăs
Vocative	χήν khḗn	χῆνε khêne	χῆνες khênes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• χηνάγριον (khēnágrion)
• χηναλώπηξ (khēnalṓpēx)
• χηνάριον (khēnárion)
• χηνοβοσκός (khēnoboskós)

Descendants

• Greek: χήνα (chína)

Further reading

• “χήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “χήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “χήν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• χήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• χήν in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • gander idem, page 353.
  • goose idem, page 367.