κολοκύνθη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

κολοκῠ́νθα (kolokúntha), κολοκῠ́νθος (kolokúnthos), κολοκῠ́ντη (kolokúntē)

Etymology

Based on the suffix, frequent in plant names of substrate origin, Beekes takes the word as Pre-Greek. The word has also been compared with Sanskrit कालिन्द (kālinda, “watermelon”) (which is traditionally considered to be named after the Hindu goddess Kali), as well as with Kurdish [Term?] (kalak, “melon”), because an informant in Athenaeus says that it was introduced from India. This does not reveal much more about the word's origins, however.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ko.lo.kýn.tʰɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈkyn.tʰe̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈcyn.θi/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈcyn.θi/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈcin.θi/

Noun

κολοκῠ́νθη • (kolokúnthē) f (genitive κολοκῠ́νθης); first declension

bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)
round gourd

Inflection

First declension of ἡ κολοκῠ́νθη; τῆς κολοκῠ́νθης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κολοκῠ́νθη hē kolokúnthē	τὼ κολοκῠ́νθᾱ tṑ kolokúnthā	αἱ κολοκῠ́νθαι hai kolokúnthai
Genitive	τῆς κολοκῠ́νθης tês kolokúnthēs	τοῖν κολοκῠ́νθαιν toîn kolokúnthain	τῶν κολοκῠνθῶν tôn kolokunthôn
Dative	τῇ κολοκῠ́νθῃ têi kolokúnthēi	τοῖν κολοκῠ́νθαιν toîn kolokúnthain	ταῖς κολοκῠ́νθαις taîs kolokúnthais
Accusative	τὴν κολοκῠ́νθην tḕn kolokúnthēn	τὼ κολοκῠ́νθᾱ tṑ kolokúnthā	τᾱ̀ς κολοκῠ́νθᾱς tā̀s kolokúnthās
Vocative	κολοκῠ́νθη kolokúnthē	κολοκῠ́νθᾱ kolokúnthā	κολοκῠ́νθαι kolokúnthai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

κολοκυνθιάς (kolokunthiás)
κολοκύνθινος (kolokúnthinos)
κολοκυνθίς (kolokunthís)
κολοκυνθών (kolokunthṓn)

Descendants

Greek: κολοκύθα (kolokýtha)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κολοκύνθη”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 738-9