chamaeleon

See also: chameleon, Chamaeleon, Chamäleon, chamæleon, and chamæléon

English

Noun

chamaeleon (plural chamaeleons)

1. Alternative spelling of chameleon

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων (khamailéōn), from χαμαί (khamaí, “on the earth, on the ground”) + λέων (léōn, “lion”); ultimately a calque from Akkadian 𒌨𒈤𒊭𒆠 (nēšu ša qaqqari, “chameleon, reptile”, literally “lion of the ground", "predator that crawls upon the ground”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kʰaˈmae̯.ɫe.oːn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kaˈmɛː.le.on]

Noun

chamaeleōn m (genitive chamaeleōnis or chamaeleontis); third declension

1. chameleon (a kind of lizard)
2. (sometimes feminine) carline thistle

Declension

Third-declension noun (two different stems).

	singular	plural
nominative	chamaeleōn	chamaeleōnēs chamaeleontēs
genitive	chamaeleōnis chamaeleontis	chamaeleōnum chamaeleontum
dative	chamaeleōnī chamaeleontī	chamaeleōnibus chamaeleontibus
accusative	chamaeleōnem chamaeleontem	chamaeleōnēs chamaeleontēs
ablative	chamaeleōne chamaeleonte	chamaeleōnibus chamaeleontibus
vocative	chamaeleōn	chamaeleōnēs chamaeleontēs

Descendants

• Catalan: camaleó
• Old French: cameleon
  • → Middle English: camelion
    • English: chameleon
  • French: caméléon
• → German: Chamäleon

References

• “chamaeleon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• chamaeleon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “chamaeleon”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• Critical and Philological Notes: Tablet XI, Note 314 in Andrew R. George (2003) The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Volume II, Oxford University Press, pages 896-897
• nēšu(m) in Black, Jeremy, George, Andrew, Postgate, Nicholas (2000) “chamaeleon”, in A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, via the electronic Babylonian Library, page 251