κολοφών

See also: Κολοφών and Κολοφῶν

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 18 October 2014

Etymology

• According to Pokorny cognate with κολώνη (kolṓnē) "hill", Latin collis "hill", the sense of "topping, finishing" derives figuratively from the one of "top".
• According to Strabο (Geographica 14:1:28), from Κολοφών (Kolophṓn, “Colophon”) as coming from the belief that the cavalry of Colophon was so excellent, that it always decided the contest.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ko.lo.pʰɔ̌ːn/ → /ko.loˈɸon/ → /ko.loˈfon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ko.lo.pʰɔ̌ːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈpʰon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈɸon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈfon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈfon/

Noun

κολοφών • (kolophṓn) m (genitive κολοφῶνος); third declension

1. a summit, top, finishing
2. a type of playing ball
3. (hapax, according to Hesychius) jackdaw, daw, grackle
4. (hapax, according to Hesychius) a type of sea fish

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ κολοφών; τοῦ κολοφῶνος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κολοφών ho kolophṓn	τὼ κολοφῶνε tṑ kolophône	οἱ κολοφῶνες hoi kolophônes
Genitive	τοῦ κολοφῶνος toû kolophônos	τοῖν κολοφώνοιν toîn kolophṓnoin	τῶν κολοφώνων tôn kolophṓnōn
Dative	τῷ κολοφῶνῐ tôi kolophôni	τοῖν κολοφώνοιν toîn kolophṓnoin	τοῖς κολοφῶσῐ / κολοφῶσῐν toîs kolophôsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν κολοφῶνᾰ tòn kolophôna	τὼ κολοφῶνε tṑ kolophône	τοὺς κολοφῶνᾰς toùs kolophônas
Vocative	κολοφών kolophṓn	κολοφῶνε kolophône	κολοφῶνες kolophônes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Synonyms

• (jackdaw): κολοιός (koloiós)

Descendants

• → French: colophon
• Greek: κολοφώνας (kolofónas)

Further reading

• “κολοφών”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κολοφών”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κολοφών in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • consummation idem, page 166.
  • coping-stone idem, page 173.
  • crown idem, page 186.
  • finishing idem, page 322.
• 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