ἄμπελος

See also: άμπελος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἀμπέλος (ampélos) — Doric

Etymology

Difficult to explain as an inherited Indo-European word and usually considered to be a Pre-Greek/substrate word. Compare also Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl (“apple”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ám.pe.los/ → /ˈam.pe.los/ → /ˈam.be.los/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ám.pe.los/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈam.pe.los/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈam.pe.los/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈam.pe.los/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈam.be.los/

Noun

ἄμπελος • (ámpelos) f (genitive ἀμπέλου); second declension

1. vine
   • 40 CE – 90 CE, Dioscorides, Materia medica 4.181
   • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 3.17.4
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.110
   • 620 BCE – 500 BCE, Alcaeus of Mytilene, Collected Works 44
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.195
   • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 4.4.11
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.90
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 7.2
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 9.52
2. a vineyard
   • 175 CE – 235 CE, Claudius Aelianus, On the Nature of Animals 11.32
3. an engine for protecting besiegers, mantlet
   • 100 CE – 200 CE, Apollodorus of Damascus, Siege Engines 141.7

Inflection

Second declension of ἡ ἄμπελος; τῆς ἀμπέλου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἄμπελος hē ámpelos	τὼ ἀμπέλω tṑ ampélō	αἱ ἄμπελοι hai ámpeloi
Genitive	τῆς ἀμπέλου tês ampélou	τοῖν ἀμπέλοιν toîn ampéloin	τῶν ἀμπέλων tôn ampélōn
Dative	τῇ ἀμπέλῳ têi ampélōi	τοῖν ἀμπέλοιν toîn ampéloin	ταῖς ἀμπέλοις taîs ampélois
Accusative	τὴν ἄμπελον tḕn ámpelon	τὼ ἀμπέλω tṑ ampélō	τᾱ̀ς ἀμπέλους tā̀s ampélous
Vocative	ἄμπελε ámpele	ἀμπέλω ampélō	ἄμπελοι ámpeloi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of ᾱ̓ ἄμπελος; τᾶς ἀμπέλω (Lesbian)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ᾱ̓ ἄμπελος ā ámpelos	τὼ ἀμπέλω tṑ ampélō	αἰ ἄμπελοι ai ámpeloi
Genitive	τᾶς ἀμπέλω tâs ampélō	τοῖν ἀμπέλοιν toîn ampéloin	τᾶν ἀμπέλων tân ampélōn
Dative	τᾶ ἀμπέλω tâ ampélō	τοῖν ἀμπέλοιν toîn ampéloin	ταῖς ἀμπέλοισῐ / ἀμπέλοισῐν taîs ampéloisĭ(n)
Accusative	τᾱ̀ν ἄμπελον tā̀n ámpelon	τὼ ἀμπέλω tṑ ampélō	ταῖς ἀμπέλοις taîs ampélois
Vocative	ἄμπελε ámpele	ἀμπέλω ampélō	ἄμπελοι ámpeloi
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

• ἀμπέλινος (ampélinos)
• ἀμπέλιον (ampélion)
• ἀμπελόδεσμος (ampelódesmos)
• ἀμπελόκαρπον (ampelókarpon)
• ἀμπελόπρασον (ampelóprason)
• ἄμπελος ἀγρία (ámpelos agría)
• ἄμπελος λευκή (ámpelos leukḗ) (Bryonia cretica, bryony)
• ἄμπελος μέλαινα (ámpelos mélaina) (Tamus communis ⇒ Dioscorea communis, black bryony)
• ἄμπελος ποντία (ámpelos pontía) (Fucus volubilis?, now Osmundaria volubilis) wrack, or some species of Fucus)'
• ἀμπελών (ampelṓn)

Descendants

• Greek: άμπελος (ámpelos)
• → Latin: ampelos

Further reading

• “ἄμπελος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄμπελος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἄμπελος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἄμπελος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄμπελος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἄμπελος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• “ἄμπελος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G288 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ἄμπελος in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • vine idem, page 953.