ἀκρίς

See also: ἄκρις, Ἀκρίς, and Ἄκρις

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Hardly related to κρίζω (krízō, “to creak”). Winter connects it with κέρκα (kérka, “grasshopper”), suggesting a Pre-Greek origin, which is quite probable for a grasshopper.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /a.krís/ → /aˈkris/ → /aˈkris/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /a.krís/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /aˈkris/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /aˈkris/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /aˈkris/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /aˈkris/

Noun

ᾰ̓κρῐ́ς • (akrís) f (genitive ᾰ̓κρῐ́δος); third declension

1. grasshopper, locust, cricket

   Synonym: ἀττέλαβος (attélabos)

2. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) locust bean: the fruit of the carob tree
   • The Gospel of Mark 1:6:

     καὶ ἦν ὁ Ἰωάνης ἐνδεδυμένος τρίχας καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ,
     καὶ ἔσθων ἀκρίδας καὶ μέλι ἄγριον.

     kaì ên ho Iōánēs endeduménos tríkhas kamḗlou kaì zṓnēn dermatínēn perì tḕn osphùn autoû,
     kaì ésthōn akrídas kaì méli ágrion.

     And John was clothed in camel hairs and a leather belt around his loins,
     and [he was] eating locust( bean)s and wild honey.

Usage notes

• The sense 'locust bean' is invoked by some biblical scholars to explain John the Baptist's diet of 'locusts and wild honey', mentioned in Mark 1:6 and Matthew 3:4.

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ ᾰ̓κρῐ́ς; τῆς ᾰ̓κρῐ́δος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ᾰ̓κρῐ́ς hē akrís	τὼ ᾰ̓κρῐ́δε tṑ akríde	αἱ ᾰ̓κρῐ́δες hai akrídes
Genitive	τῆς ᾰ̓κρῐ́δος tês akrídos	τοῖν ᾰ̓κρῐ́δοιν toîn akrídoin	τῶν ᾰ̓κρῐ́δων tôn akrídōn
Dative	τῇ ᾰ̓κρῐ́δῐ têi akrídi	τοῖν ᾰ̓κρῐ́δοιν toîn akrídoin	ταῖς ᾰ̓κρῐ́σῐ / ᾰ̓κρῐ́σῐν taîs akrísi(n)
Accusative	τὴν ᾰ̓κρῐ́δᾰ tḕn akrída	τὼ ᾰ̓κρῐ́δε tṑ akríde	τᾱ̀ς ᾰ̓κρῐ́δᾰς tā̀s akrídas
Vocative	ᾰ̓κρῐ́ς akrís	ᾰ̓κρῐ́δε akríde	ᾰ̓κρῐ́δες akrídes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Nominative singular -ς (-s) arose by reduction of the original cluster *-ds.

Further reading

• “ἀκρίς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀκρίς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἀκρίς”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἀκρίς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἀκρίς in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἀκρίς in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• G200 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • locust idem, page 497.
• 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