κέρνος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• κέρχνος (kérkhnos)

Etymology

The noun has tentatively been linked to other Indo-European words, such as κέραμος (kéramos, “clay, tile”), Sanskrit चरु (caru, “pot, saucepan”), Latin scrīnium (“chest”), Old English hwer (“kettle, pot, basin”), but to no avail. According to Beekes and Chantraine the word is Pre-Greek, in view of the variant κέρχνος (kérkhnos)

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kér.nos/ → /ˈcer.nos/ → /ˈcer.nos/

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

Noun

κέρνος • (kérnos) n (genitive κέρνεος); third declension

1. large earthen dish with small pots, in which fruits were offered to the Korybantes

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ κέρνος; τοῦ κέρνεος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κέρνος tò kérnos	τὼ κέρνεε tṑ kérnee	τᾰ̀ κέρνεᾰ tà kérnea
Genitive	τοῦ κέρνεος toû kérneos	τοῖν κερνέοιν toîn kernéoin	τῶν κερνέων tôn kernéōn
Dative	τῷ κέρνεῐ̈ tôi kérneï	τοῖν κερνέοιν toîn kernéoin	τοῖς κέρνεσῐ / κέρνεσῐν toîs kérnesi(n)
Accusative	τὸ κέρνος tò kérnos	τὼ κέρνεε tṑ kérnee	τᾰ̀ κέρνεᾰ tà kérnea
Vocative	κέρνος kérnos	κέρνεε kérnee	κέρνεᾰ kérnea
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• κέρνας (kérnas)
• κερνοφορέω (kernophoréō)
• κερνοφόρος (kernophóros)

 

Descendants

• → English: kernos

Further reading

• “κέρνος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κέρνος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κέρνος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κέρνος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 680