κανθός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Uncertain, sometimes suggested to be related to Proto-Slavic *kǫtъ (“corner”), Proto-Celtic *cantos (“corner, rim (of a chariot wheel)”) through a Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ndʰ-, but Beekes doesn't find this convincing, as -νθ- is often indicative of Pre-Greek; moreover, Slavic and Celtic presuppose *-t-.

The primary sense is "corner of the eye", recorded in Aristotle; in the 6th century (John Philoponus) also glossed as "eyelids"; the secondary meaning "rim (of a wheel)" only arises in the Roman period (Edict of Diocletian AD 301), influenced by Latin (originally Gaulish) cantus. The senses "chimney" and "pot, pan" are only known from Hesychius.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kan.tʰós/ → /kanˈθos/ → /kanˈθos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kan.tʰós/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kanˈtʰos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /kanˈθos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /kanˈθos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /kanˈθos/

Noun

κανθός • (kanthós) m (genitive κανθοῦ); second declension

1. corner of the eye
2. eyelids
3. (poetic) eye
4. rim or tire of a wheel
5. chimney
6. pot, pan

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ κανθός; τοῦ κανθοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κανθός ho kanthós	τὼ κανθώ tṑ kanthṓ	οἱ κανθοί hoi kanthoí
Genitive	τοῦ κανθοῦ toû kanthoû	τοῖν κανθοῖν toîn kanthoîn	τῶν κανθῶν tôn kanthôn
Dative	τῷ κανθῷ tôi kanthôi	τοῖν κανθοῖν toîn kanthoîn	τοῖς κανθοῖς toîs kanthoîs
Accusative	τὸν κανθόν tòn kanthón	τὼ κανθώ tṑ kanthṓ	τοὺς κανθούς toùs kanthoús
Vocative	κανθέ kanthé	κανθώ kanthṓ	κανθοί kanthoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Further reading

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