ἀκόνιτον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Derived by the ancients from ᾰ̓κόνῑτος (akónītos, “without dust, without struggle”), therefore "invincible", because of its deadly effect. Semantically, this is hardly possible. Furnée connects it with κονή (konḗ, “murder”) and κῶνος (kônos, “cone”), suggesting a Pre-Greek origin, which is in any case probable.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /a.kó.niː.ton/ → /aˈko.ni.ton/ → /aˈko.ni.ton/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /a.kó.niː.ton/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /aˈko.ni.ton/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /aˈko.ni.ton/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /aˈko.ni.ton/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /aˈko.ni.ton/

Noun

ᾰ̓κόνῑτον • (akónīton) n (genitive ᾰ̓κονῑ́του); second declension

1. leopard's bane, Aconitum anthora
2. wolf's bane, Aconitum napellus

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ ᾰ̓κόνῑτον; τοῦ ᾰ̓κονῑ́του (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ᾰ̓κόνῑτον tò akónīton	τὼ ᾰ̓κονῑ́τω tṑ akonī́tō	τᾰ̀ ᾰ̓κόνῑτᾰ tà akónīta
Genitive	τοῦ ᾰ̓κονῑ́του toû akonī́tou	τοῖν ᾰ̓κονῑ́τοιν toîn akonī́toin	τῶν ᾰ̓κονῑ́των tôn akonī́tōn
Dative	τῷ ᾰ̓κονῑ́τῳ tôi akonī́tōi	τοῖν ᾰ̓κονῑ́τοιν toîn akonī́toin	τοῖς ᾰ̓κονῑ́τοις toîs akonī́tois
Accusative	τὸ ᾰ̓κόνῑτον tò akónīton	τὼ ᾰ̓κονῑ́τω tṑ akonī́tō	τᾰ̀ ᾰ̓κόνῑτᾰ tà akónīta
Vocative	ᾰ̓κόνῑτον akónīton	ᾰ̓κονῑ́τω akonī́tō	ᾰ̓κόνῑτᾰ akónīta
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Further reading

• “ἀκόνιτον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀκόνιτον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἀκόνιτον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἀκόνιτον in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• 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