κύμβαλον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow of a vessel”), with a suffix -αλον which is found also in κρόταλον (krótalon, “rattle”). Yakubovich suggested a derivation from Hittite [script needed] (ḫuḫupal, “kind of musical instrument, perhaps a lute or a drum”); however, the unexplained dereduplication, the -μβ- instead of -β- and the still unclear meaning of the Hittite word exclude this proposal.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kým.ba.lon/ → /ˈcym.ba.lon/ → /ˈcim.ba.lon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kým.ba.lon/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkym.ba.lon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈcym.ba.lon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈcym.ba.lon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈcim.ba.lon/

Noun

κῠ́μβᾰλον • (kúmbalon) n (genitive κῠμβᾰ́λου); second declension

1. (chiefly in the plural) cymbal

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ κῠ́μβᾰλον; τοῦ κῠμβᾰ́λου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κῠ́μβᾰλον tò kúmbalon	τὼ κῠμβᾰ́λω tṑ kumbálō	τᾰ̀ κῠ́μβᾰλᾰ tà kúmbala
Genitive	τοῦ κῠμβᾰ́λου toû kumbálou	τοῖν κῠμβᾰ́λοιν toîn kumbáloin	τῶν κῠμβᾰ́λων tôn kumbálōn
Dative	τῷ κῠμβᾰ́λῳ tôi kumbálōi	τοῖν κῠμβᾰ́λοιν toîn kumbáloin	τοῖς κῠμβᾰ́λοις toîs kumbálois
Accusative	τὸ κῠ́μβᾰλον tò kúmbalon	τὼ κῠμβᾰ́λω tṑ kumbálō	τᾰ̀ κῠ́μβᾰλᾰ tà kúmbala
Vocative	κῠ́μβᾰλον kúmbalon	κῠμβᾰ́λω kumbálō	κῠ́μβᾰλᾰ kúmbala
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• κῠμβᾰλῖτῐς (kumbalîtis)
• κῠμβᾰλοκρούστης (kumbalokroústēs)
• κῠμβᾰλῐ́ζω (kumbalízō)
• κῠμβᾰ́λῐον (kumbálion)
• κῠμβᾰλῐσμός (kumbalismós)
• κῠμβᾰλῐστής (kumbalistḗs)
• κῠμβᾰλῐ́στρῐᾱ (kumbalístriā)

 

Descendants

• → Latin: cymbalum (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “κύμβαλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κύμβαλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κύμβαλον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN