Byzantium

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ-der.

Thracian *būzasder.

Ancient Greek Βῡ́ζᾱς (Bū́zās)

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Ancient Greek -ῐος (-ĭos)?

Ancient Greek -ῐον (-ĭon)

Ancient Greek Βῡζᾰ́ντῐον (Būzắntĭon)bor.

Latin Bȳzantiumbor.

English Byzantium

From Latin Bȳzantium, from Ancient Greek Βῡζᾰ́ντῐον (Būzắntĭon), named after its legendary founder, Byzas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈzæn.ti.əm/, /baɪˈzæn.ti.əm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Proper noun

Byzantium

2. (historical) An ancient Greek city situated on the Bosporus in modern Turkey, renamed Constantinople in 330 C.E.; modern Istanbul.
4. (historical, by extension) An ancient Greek empire in Southeastern Europe and Western Asia, with its capital at Constantinople; in full, Byzantine Empire.

Related terms

• bezant
• Bezant
• Byzant
• Byzantine

Translations

ancient Greek city

• Albanian: Bizant m (indefinite), Bizanti m (definite)
• Arabic: بِيزَنْطَة f (bīzanṭa)
• Armenian: Բյուզանդիոն (hy) (Byuzandion)
• Azerbaijani: Bizantion
• Basque: Bizantzio
• Belarusian: Віза́нтый m (Vizántyj)
• Bengali: বাইজান্টিয়াম (baijanṭiẏam)
• Bulgarian: Византион m (Vizantion)
• Catalan: Bizanci
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 拜占庭 (baai³ zim¹ ting⁴)

  Mandarin: 拜占庭 (zh) (Bàizhàntíng)

• Coptic: ⲃⲩⲍⲁⲛⲧⲓⲟⲛ (buzantion)
• Czech: Byzantion m
• Danish: Byzans n
• Dutch: Byzantion n
• Esperanto: Bizanco
• Estonian: Bütsants
• Finnish: Byzantion (fi)
• French: Byzance (fr) f
• Gagauz: Bizanţ
• Galician: Bizancio (gl)
• Georgian: ბიზანტია (bizanṭia)
• German: Byzantion n
• Greek: Βυζάντιο (el) n (Vyzántio)

  Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον n (Buzántion)

• Hebrew: בִּיזַנְטְיוֹן f (bizantyón)
• Hindi: बाईज़ान्टियाम m (bāīzānṭiyām)
• Hungarian: Bizánc (hu)
• Indonesian: Byzantium
• Irish: Biosáintiam m
• Italian: Bisanzio (it) m
• Japanese: ビュザンティオン (Byuzantion)
• Korean: 비잔티온 (Bijantion), 비잔티움 (Bijantium)
• Latin: Bȳzantium (la) n
• Latvian: Bizantija f
• Lithuanian: Bizantija f
• Low German: Byzanz
• Macedonian: Византија f (Vizantija), Византион m (Vizantion)
• Malay: Byzantium
• Middle English: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Визант (Vizant)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Bysants (no) n

• Old Galician-Portuguese: Besanço
• Old Norse: Miklagarðr m
• Persian: بیزانس (fa) (bizâns), روم (fa) (rum), بوزنطین (buzantin), بوزنطه (buzante)

  Middle Persian: 𐭧𐭫𐭥𐭬 (ḥlʿm /⁠hrōm⁠/)

• Polish: Bizancjum (pl) n
• Portuguese: Bizâncio (pt)
• Romanian: Bizanț n
• Russian: Виза́нтий (ru) m (Vizántij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Бѝзант m, Вѝзант m

  Latin: Bìzant (sh) m, Vìzant m

• Slovak: Byzantion m
• Slovene: Bizanc (sl) m
• Spanish: Bizancio (es) m
• Swedish: Byzantion n
• Thai: บิแซนเทียม
• Turkish: Bizantion
• Ukrainian: Віза́нтій m (Vizántij)
• Uzbek: Vizantiy
• Welsh: Bysantiwm m

Byzantine Empire — see Byzantine Empire

Noun

Byzantium (uncountable)

1. A dark shade of purple, close to Tyrian purple and palatinate purple.

   byzantium:  

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Bȳzantium, from Ancient Greek Βῡζᾰ́ντῐον (Būzắntĭon).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbiˈzɑn.ti.ʏm/, /ˌbiˈzɑn.tsi.ʏm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: By‧zan‧ti‧um

Proper noun

Byzantium n

1. (historical) Byzantium (an ancient Greek city situated on the Bosporus in modern Turkey, renamed Constantinople in 330 C.E.; modern Istanbul)

Derived terms

• Byzantijn

Latin

Alternative forms

• Bȳzantion
• Bīzantium (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Βῡζᾰ́ντῐον (Būzắntĭon).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [byːzˈzan.ti.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [bidˈd͡zan.t͡si.um]

Proper noun

Bȳzantium n sg (genitive Bȳzantiī or Bȳzantī); second declension

1. (historical) Byzantium (an ancient Greek city situated on the Bosporus in modern Turkey, renamed Constantinople in 330 C.E.; modern Istanbul)

   Synonyms: Cōnstantīnopolis, Nova Rōma

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter), with locative, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Bȳzantium
genitive	Bȳzantiī Bȳzantī1
dative	Bȳzantiō
accusative	Bȳzantium
ablative	Bȳzantiō
vocative	Bȳzantium
locative	Bȳzantiī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• bȳzantīnus

Descendants

• Asturian: Bizanciu
• Catalan: Bizanci
• French: Byzance
• Galician: Bizancio
• Irish: Biosáint
• Italian: Bisanzio
• Portuguese: Bizâncio
• Romanian: Bizanț, Bizanțiu
• Spanish: Bizancio
• Welsh: Bisantiwm

References

• “Bȳzantĭum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Byzantium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.