Ancient Greek edit

Etymology edit

There is no correspondance in other Indo-European languages. A widespread group in Balto-Slavic and Germanic has been adduced: Russian коро́бить (koróbitʹ, to bend, warp), Lithuanian skrèbti (to get stiff), Old Norse skorpna (to writhe, wither), from an Indo-Euopean root *skrebʰ-. Within Greek, we find the glosses κορφῶς (korphôs, light, small) and κέρβαλα (kérbala, weak). The problem with this etymology is the consistent α-vocalism of the Greek words. According to Beekes, the verb is rather from Pre-Greek.

Pronunciation edit

 

Verb edit

κᾰ́ρφω (kárphō)

  1. to dry up, wither, shrivel

Inflection edit

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit