ἐλέφας

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From a compound of Proto-Berber *eḷu and either Egyptian ꜣbw

or Sanskrit इभ (íbha).

Cognate with Mycenaean Greek 𐀁𐀩𐀞 (e-re-pa), acc. 𐀁𐀩𐀞𐀲 (e-re-pa-ta), dat. 𐀁𐀩𐀞𐀳 (e-re-pa-te), gen. 𐀁𐀩𐀞𐀵 (e-re-pa-to).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /e.lé.pʰaːs/ → /eˈle.ɸas/ → /eˈle.fas/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /e.lé.pʰaːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /eˈle.pʰas/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /eˈle.ɸas/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /eˈle.fas/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /eˈle.fas/

Noun

ἐλέφᾱς • (eléphās) m (genitive ἐλέφαντος); third declension

1. ivory
2. elephant

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ἐλέφᾱς; τοῦ ἐλέφᾰντος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἐλέφᾱς ho eléphās	τὼ ἐλέφᾰντε tṑ eléphante	οἱ ἐλέφᾰντες hoi eléphantes
Genitive	τοῦ ἐλέφᾰντος toû eléphantos	τοῖν ἐλεφᾰ́ντοιν toîn elephántoin	τῶν ἐλεφᾰ́ντων tôn elephántōn
Dative	τῷ ἐλέφᾰντῐ tôi eléphanti	τοῖν ἐλεφᾰ́ντοιν toîn elephántoin	τοῖς ἐλέφᾱσῐ / ἐλέφᾱσῐν toîs eléphāsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ἐλέφᾰντᾰ tòn eléphanta	τὼ ἐλέφᾰντε tṑ eléphante	τοὺς ἐλέφᾰντᾰς toùs eléphantas
Vocative	ἐλέφᾰν eléphan	ἐλέφᾰντε eléphante	ἐλέφᾰντες eléphantes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἐλεφᾰντᾰ́ρχης (elephantárkhēs)
• Ἐλεφαντίνη (Elephantínē)
• ἐλεφᾰντομᾰχῐ́ᾱ (elephantomakhíā)

 

Descendants

• Greek: ελέφας (eléfas), ελέφαντας (eléfantas)
• → Old Church Slavonic: е҆лефа́нтъ, е҆лефа́нтесъ
  • → Old Ruthenian: елефа́нтъ (elefánt)
  • → Russian: элефа́нт (elefánt) (archaic)
• → Latin: elephās, elephāns, elephantus
  • Vulgar Latin: *olifantus
    • Old French: olifant
      • → Middle English: olifaunt
  • Asturian: elefante
  • Corsican: elefante, elefente
  • Old French: elefant, elefan
    • Middle French: elephant
      • French: éléphant
    • → Middle English: elefant, elefaunt
      • English: elephant
  • Galician: elefante, alefante
  • Italian: elefante
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: elefante, elifante, helefante
    • Portuguese: elefante, elephante
  • Sicilian: lifanti
  • Spanish: elefante
    • → Basque: elefante
  • → Proto-West Germanic: *elpand (“elephant, ivory”)
    • Old English: elpend, ylpend, ylp
      • Middle English: elp, ylp
    • Old Dutch: *elpand
      • Middle Dutch: elpend
    • Old High German: helfan, helfant
      • Middle High German: hëlfant, elefant, elfant (relatinisation)
        • Alemannic German: Elifant
        • German: Elefant, Elephant (obsolete)
          • → Kashubian: élefant
          • → Lower Sorbian: elefant
          • → Saterland Frisian: Elefant
        • Luxembourgish: Elefant
        • Vilamovian: elefaont
        • Yiddish: העלפֿאַנד (helfand)
  • → Old Norse: úlfaldi
    • Icelandic: úlfaldi
  • → Middle High German: elefant
    • German: Elefant, Elephant
  • → Esperanto: elefanto
  • → Ido: elefanto
  • → Volapük: leefad

Further reading

• “ἐλέφας”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἐλέφας”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἐλέφας”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἐλέφας in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἐλέφας in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἐλέφας in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 265
• olifantus 1
• olifantus 2