ostracon
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὄστρακον (óstrakon).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɒstɹəˌkɒn/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɑstɹəˌkɑn/
- Hyphenation: os‧tra‧con
Noun edit
ostracon (plural ostraca)
- A piece of pottery or stone, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel, especially one used to cast a vote during the Ancient Greek process of ostracism.
- 1804, William Fordyce Mavor, chapter I, in Universal History, Ancient and Modern, volume III, New York: Stansbury, page 5:
- The process in this condemnation was thus : the people being assembled, every man took a tile called ostrakon and carried it to a certain part of the market place, surrounded by wooden rails for that purpose, in which were ten gates for the ten tribes to enter distinctly : in this place the tiles were deposited by each person, and numbered in gross by the archons.
- 1993, John Fleischman, “In Classical Athens, a market trading in the currency of ideas”, in The Classical Outlook, volume 71, number 1, →JSTOR, page 11:
- Also on view are ostraca, pottery fragments on which Athenians inscribed the names of persons they felt too powerful for the good of the city and deserving of ostracism, or 10 years’ exile, a procedure formalized by Cleisthenes.
- 2009, Debra Hamel, “Citizen Tyrants”, in Military History[1]:
- If there was sufficient interest, the Athenians could vote once per year to ostracize someone, exiling him from Athens for a period of 10 years. To vote, Athenians scratched the name of the person to be ostracized on potsherds, broken pottery pieces called ostraka—hence the name of the procedure.
Related terms edit
Anagrams edit
French edit
Noun edit
ostracon m (plural ostracons)
Further reading edit
- “ostracon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Greek ὄστρακον (óstrakon).
Noun edit
ostracon n (uncountable)
Declension edit
declension of ostracon (singular only)
| singular | ||
|---|---|---|
| n gender | indefinite articulation | definite articulation |
| nominative/accusative | (un) ostracon | ostraconul |
| genitive/dative | (unui) ostracon | ostraconului |
| vocative | ostraconule | |