πέρνης

Ancient Greek

Etymology

An Aristotelian term, attested in the Historia Animalorum (9.36), but corrupted in manuscript tradition, which also records περνίς (pernís), πτερνίς (pternís) and πέρκνης (pérknēs).

Theodorus Gaza, an early translator of Aristotle, renders the Greek term as Latin pernix.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pér.nɛːs/ → /ˈper.nis/ → /ˈper.nis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pér.nɛːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈper.ne̝s/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈper.nis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈper.nis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈper.nis/

Noun

πέρνης • (pérnēs) m (genitive πέρνου); first declension

1. a bird of prey, a kind of hawk
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 9.36:

     Ὁ δὲ ἀστερίας καὶ ὁ φασσοφόνος καὶ ὁ πέρνης ἀλλοῖοι.

     Ho dè asterías kaì ho phassophónos kaì ho pérnēs alloîoi.

     Other species [of hawk] are the starred [hawk], the dove-killing [hawk] and the pérnēs [hawk].

Inflection

First declension of ὁ πέρνης; τοῦ πέρνου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ πέρνης ho pérnēs	τὼ πέρνᾱ tṑ pérnā	οἱ πέρναι hoi pérnai
Genitive	τοῦ πέρνου toû pérnou	τοῖν πέρναιν toîn pérnain	τῶν περνῶν tôn pernôn
Dative	τῷ πέρνῃ tôi pérnēi	τοῖν πέρναιν toîn pérnain	τοῖς πέρναις toîs pérnais
Accusative	τὸν πέρνην tòn pérnēn	τὼ πέρνᾱ tṑ pérnā	τοὺς πέρνᾱς toùs pérnās
Vocative	πέρνη pérnē	πέρνᾱ pérnā	πέρναι pérnai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• → Translingual: Pernis
• → English: pern

References

• Pierre Belon, L'histoire de la nature des oyseaux, 1997, p. 410

Further reading

• Pape, Wilhelm, Benseler, Gustav Eduard (1884) “πέρνης”, in Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen (in German), 3rd edition, Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn
• “πέρνης”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011