κύρβεις

Ancient Greek

Etymology

As a technical expression, suspected of being a loan, perhaps from Pre-Greek. According to Beekes, the older connection with καρπός (karpós, “wrist”) is unacceptable. Fick and Kretschmer also adduced Κύρβαντες (Kúrbantes), which would have been named after their whirling dances.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kýr.beːs/ → /ˈcyr.βis/ → /ˈcir.vis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kýr.beːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkyr.bis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈcyr.βis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈcyr.vis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈcir.vis/

Proper noun

κῠ́ρβεις • (kúrbeis) f (genitive κῠ́ρβεων); third declension

1. (at Athens) triangular tablets, forming a three-sided pyramid, turning on a pivot, upon which the early laws were inscribed
2. (later) all pillars or tablets with inscriptions
3. (figuratively) the Pillars of Hercules
4. (figuratively) pettifogging lawyer, as if a walking statute book

Inflection

Third declension of αἱ κῠ́ρβεις; τῶν κῠ́ρβεων (Attic)

Case / #	Plural
Nominative	αἱ κῠ́ρβεις hai kúrbeis
Genitive	τῶν κῠ́ρβεων tôn kúrbeōn
Dative	ταῖς κῠ́ρβεσῐ / κῠ́ρβεσῐν taîs kúrbesi(n)
Accusative	τᾱ̀ς κῠ́ρβεις tā̀s kúrbeis
Vocative	κῠ́ρβεις kúrbeis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Further reading

• “κύρβεις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κύρβεις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κύρβεις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κύρβεις”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 806