παλάθη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Has often been connected with πλάσσω (plássō, “to knead”), παλάμη (palámē, “flat of the hand”) and πέλανος (pélanos, “dough, pulp”). However, the semantics of this etymology are not compelling. Furnée compares παλάσια (palásia, “harvested figs”), suggesting a Pre-Greek etymology due to the variation “θ/σ”, but this points to Semitic origin, since “fig” is precisely what Amharic / Tigrinya / Tigre / Gurage / Ge'ez በለስ (bäläs) and Arabic بَلَس (balas) mean and that Ethiopic word even translates the Greek in the Bibles.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pa.lá.tʰɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /paˈla.tʰe̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /paˈla.θi/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /paˈla.θi/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /paˈla.θi/

Noun

παλάθη • (paláthē) f (genitive παλάθης); first declension

cake of preserved fruit, fruitcake

Inflection

First declension of ἡ παλάθη; τῆς παλάθης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ παλάθη hē paláthē	τὼ παλάθᾱ tṑ paláthā	αἱ παλάθαι hai paláthai
Genitive	τῆς παλάθης tês paláthēs	τοῖν παλάθαιν toîn paláthain	τῶν παλαθῶν tôn palathôn
Dative	τῇ παλάθῃ têi paláthēi	τοῖν παλάθαιν toîn paláthain	ταῖς παλάθαις taîs paláthais
Accusative	τὴν παλάθην tḕn paláthēn	τὼ παλάθᾱ tṑ paláthā	τᾱ̀ς παλάθᾱς tā̀s paláthās
Vocative	παλάθη paláthē	παλάθᾱ paláthā	παλάθαι paláthai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

παλαθίον (palathíon)
παλαθίς (palathís)
παλαθώδης (palathṓdēs)

Descendants

→ Latin: palatha

References

“παλάθη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
παλάθη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
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