βολίς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bo.lís/ → /βoˈlis/ → /voˈlis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bo.lís/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /boˈlis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /βoˈlis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /voˈlis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /voˈlis/

Noun

βολίς • (bolís) f (genitive βολίδος); third declension

1. javelin, dart
2. cast of the dice
3. die
4. (Byzantine) lightray
5. (Byzantine) jab (mild verbal insult)

Declension

Third declension of ἡ βολῐ́ς; τῆς βολῐ́δος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ βολῐ́ς hē bolís	τὼ βολῐ́δε tṑ bolíde	αἱ βολῐ́δες hai bolídes
Genitive	τῆς βολῐ́δος tês bolídos	τοῖν βολῐ́δοιν toîn bolídoin	τῶν βολῐ́δων tôn bolídōn
Dative	τῇ βολῐ́δῐ têi bolídi	τοῖν βολῐ́δοιν toîn bolídoin	ταῖς βολῐ́σῐ / βολῐ́σῐν taîs bolísi(n)
Accusative	τὴν βολῐ́δᾰ tḕn bolída	τὼ βολῐ́δε tṑ bolíde	τᾱ̀ς βολῐ́δᾰς tā̀s bolídas
Vocative	βολῐ́ς bolís	βολῐ́δε bolíde	βολῐ́δες bolídes
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.

Quotations

• New Testament, Epistle to the Hebrews 12:20b:

  Κἂν θηρίον θίγῃ τοῦ ὄρους, λιθοβοληθήσεται ἢ βολίδι κατατοξευθήσεται·

  Kàn thēríon thígēi toû órous, lithobolēthḗsetai ḕ bolídi katatoxeuthḗsetai;

  • Translation by KJV

    And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

Related terms

• βάλλω (bállō)
• βέλεμνον (bélemnon)
• βέλος (bélos)
• βλῆμα (blêma)
• βολή (bolḗ)
• βόλος (bólos)

 

Descendants

• Greek: βολίδα (volída)
• Latin: bolis (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• βολίς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βολίς in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “βολίς”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, 2011
• “βολίς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• G1002 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• βολίς in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Sophocles, Evangelinos Apostolides (1900) “βολίς”, in Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (from B. C. 146 to A. D. 1100), New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 312