ἰχθύς

See also: ιχθύς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰu-. Compare Old Armenian ձուկն (jukn) and Lithuanian žuvis.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ikʰ.tʰy̌ːs/ → /ixˈθys/ → /ixˈθis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ikʰ.tʰy̌ːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ikʰˈtʰys/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ixˈθys/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ixˈθys/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ixˈθis/

Noun

ἰχθῡ́ς • (ikhthū́s) m (genitive ἰχθῠ́ος); third declension

1. fish
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.82:

     ἔρχεται ὠμηστῇσιν ἐπ᾽ ἰχθύσι κῆρα φέρουσα

     érkhetai ōmēstêisin ep᾽ ikhthúsi kêra phérousa

     goeth down bearing death to the ravenous fishes

   1. (figuratively) stupid person
      • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 2.975b
   2. (plural) fish market
      • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 1068:

        κἂν ταῦτα λέγων ἐξαπατήσῃ, παρὰ τοὺς ἰχθῦς ἀνέκυψεν.

        kàn taûta légōn exapatḗsēi, parà toùs ikhthûs anékupsen.

        And if he fooled 'em with that story, he'd pop up in the fish market.

   3. (plural) Pisces (constellation)
      • 190 BCE – 120 BCE, Hipparchus, Collected Works 1.2.3
      • 234 CE – 305 CE, Porphyry, Antr. 22

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ἰχθῡ́ς; τοῦ ἰχθῠ́ος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἰχθῡ́ς / ἰχθῦς ho ikhthū́s / ikhthûs	τὼ ἰχθῠ́ε tṑ ikhthúe	οἱ ἰχθῠ́ες / ἰχθῦς hoi ikhthúes / ikhthûs
Genitive	τοῦ ἰχθῠ́ος toû ikhthúos	τοῖν ἰχθῠ́οιν toîn ikhthúoin	τῶν ἰχθῠ́ων tôn ikhthúōn
Dative	τῷ ἰχθῠ́ῐ̈ tôi ikhthúï	τοῖν ἰχθῠ́οιν toîn ikhthúoin	τοῖς ἰχθῠ́σῐ / ἰχθῠ́σῐν toîs ikhthúsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ἰχθῡ́ν / ἰχθῠ́ᾰ tòn ikhthū́n / ikhthúa	τὼ ἰχθῠ́ε tṑ ikhthúe	τοὺς ἰχθῦς / ἰχθῠ́ᾰς toùs ikhthûs / ikhthúas
Vocative	ἰχθῡ́ ikhthū́	ἰχθῠ́ε ikhthúe	ἰχθῠ́ες / ἰχθῦς ikhthúes / ikhthûs
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

Descendants

• English: ichthys

Further reading

• “ἰχθῦς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἰχθύς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἰχθύς”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἰχθύς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ἰχθύς in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ἰχθύς”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2486 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • fish idem, page 323.

References

• ἰχθύς in Wilhelm Pape's Handwörterbuch der griechischen Sprache: Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch. 1875. Vol I, pg. 582/1.