Ancient Greek

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Etymology

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Uncertain; probably Pre-Greek. Possibly related to Latin digitus, though the details are unclear.[1] Note also Boeotian Greek δακκύλιος (dakkúlios).

The sense "date" is probably a folk-etymological alteration of a word from a Semitic source such as Arabic دَقَل (daqal, variety of date palm) or Hebrew דֶּקֶל (deqel, date palm).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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δᾰ́κτῠλος (dáktulosm (genitive δᾰκτῠ́λου); second declension

  1. finger
    1. toe
  2. measure of length, the breadth of a finger, about 7/10 of an inch
    1. dactyl, a metrical foot
    2. (in the plural) a dance
  3. date (fruit)
  4. type of grape

Declension

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “δάκτυλος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 300

Further reading

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