ἄκανθος

See also: άκανθος and Ἄκανθος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally taken as a compound of ἀκή (akḗ, “point”) +‎ ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”); however, see ἄκανθα (ákantha, “thorny plant”) for more.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /á.kan.tʰos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kan.tʰos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kan.θos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kan.θos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kan.θos/

Noun

ἄκᾰνθος • (ákănthos) m or f (genitive ἀκᾰ́νθου); second declension

The acanthus plant

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ἄκᾰνθος; τοῦ ἀκᾰ́νθου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἄκᾰνθος ho ákănthos	τὼ ἀκᾰ́νθω tṑ akắnthō	οἱ ἄκᾰνθοι hoi ákănthoi
Genitive	τοῦ ἀκᾰ́νθου toû akắnthou	τοῖν ἀκᾰ́νθοιν toîn akắnthoin	τῶν ἀκᾰ́νθων tôn akắnthōn
Dative	τῷ ἀκᾰ́νθῳ tōî akắnthōi	τοῖν ἀκᾰ́νθοιν toîn akắnthoin	τοῖς ἀκᾰ́νθοις toîs akắnthois
Accusative	τὸν ἄκᾰνθον tòn ákănthon	τὼ ἀκᾰ́νθω tṑ akắnthō	τοὺς ἀκᾰ́νθους toùs akắnthous
Vocative	ἄκᾰνθε ákănthe	ἀκᾰ́νθω akắnthō	ἄκᾰνθοι ákănthoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

→ Latin: acanthus
- → Catalan: acant
- → Finnish: akantus, akantti
- → English: acanthus
- → French: acanthe
  - → Romanian: acantă
- → Irish: acanta-, acantas
- → Italian: acanto
- → Polish: akant (learned)
- → Portuguese: acanto
- → Spanish: acanto
- → Swedish: akantus, akant

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ἄκανθα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 48: “VAR > Note ἄκανθος [m.] 'acanthus'”

“ἄκανθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
ἄκανθος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
ἄκανθος in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
ἄκανθος in Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Max Sengebusch, editor, Handwörterbuch der griechischen Sprache‎^[1] (in German), 3rd edition, Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn
“ἄκανθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
ἄκανθος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ἄκανθα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 48: “VAR > Note ἄκανθος [m.] 'acanthus'”

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