Κέρβερος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unknown. Suggested to be cognate with Sanskrit शबल (śabala), कर्बुर (karbura, “speckled, spotted”), from Late Proto-Indo-European *ḱerbero- (“dappled, spotted”) ( perhaps compare Spot as a popular dog's name in English), but this is phonetically problematic and is rejected by Beekes.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kér.be.ros/ → /ˈcer.βe.ros/ → /ˈcer.ve.ros/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kér.be.ros/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈker.be.ros/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈcer.βe.ros/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈcer.ve.ros/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈcer.ve.ros/

Proper noun

Κέρβερος • (Kérberos) m (genitive Κερβέρου); second declension

1. Cerberus, the three-headed dog which guards the entrance to Hades

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ Κέρβερος; τοῦ Κερβέρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ὁ Κέρβερος ho Kérberos
Genitive	τοῦ Κερβέρου toû Kerbérou
Dative	τῷ Κερβέρῳ tôi Kerbérōi
Accusative	τὸν Κέρβερον tòn Kérberon
Vocative	Κέρβερε Kérbere
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• → Latin: Cerberus
  • Catalan: Cèrber
  • English: Cerberus
  • French: Cerbère
  • German: Zerberus
  • Italian: Cerbero
  • Polish: Cerber
  • Portuguese: Cérbero
  • Romanian: Cerber
  • Serbo-Croatian: Kerber
  • Spanish: Cerbero

References

• “Κέρβερος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Κέρβερος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,005
• Klein
• Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World