σπήλαιον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From the same Pre-Greek source as σπέος (spéos) and σπῆλυγξ (spêlunx).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /spɛ̌ː.lai̯.on/ → /ˈspi.lɛ.on/ → /ˈspi.le.on/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /spɛ̌ː.lai̯.on/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈspe̝.lɛ.on/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈspi.lɛ.on/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈspi.le.on/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈspi.le.on/

Noun

σπήλαιον • (spḗlaion) n (genitive σπελαίου); second declension

1. grotto, cave, cavern
2. den, lair
   • 70 CE – 110 CE, The Gospel of Matthew 21:13:

     καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Γέγραπται ὁ οἶκός μου οἶκος προσευχῆς κληθήσεται· ὑμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸν ποιεῖτε σπήλαιον λῃστῶν.

     kaì légei autoîs, Gégraptai ho oîkós mou oîkos proseukhês klēthḗsetai; humeîs dè autòn poieîte spḗlaion lēistôn.

     And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. (KJV)

Declension

Second declension of τὸ σπήλαιον; τοῦ σπηλαίου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ σπήλαιον tò spḗlaion	τὼ σπηλαίω tṑ spēlaíō	τᾰ̀ σπήλαιᾰ tà spḗlaia
Genitive	τοῦ σπηλαίου toû spēlaíou	τοῖν σπηλαίοιν toîn spēlaíoin	τῶν σπηλαίων tôn spēlaíōn
Dative	τῷ σπηλαίῳ tôi spēlaíōi	τοῖν σπηλαίοιν toîn spēlaíoin	τοῖς σπηλαίοις toîs spēlaíois
Accusative	τὸ σπήλαιον tò spḗlaion	τὼ σπηλαίω tṑ spēlaíō	τᾰ̀ σπήλαιᾰ tà spḗlaia
Vocative	σπήλαιον spḗlaion	σπηλαίω spēlaíō	σπήλαιᾰ spḗlaia
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Descendants

• Greek: σπηλιά (spiliá)
• → Albanian: shpellë
• → Coptic: ⲥⲡⲏⲗⲁⲓⲟⲛ (spēlaion), ⲥⲡⲏⲗⲩⲟⲛ (spēluon) — Sahidic; ⲥⲡⲉⲗⲉⲱⲛ (speleōn) — Bohairic
• → English: speleo-
• → French: spéléo-
• → Hungarian: szpeleo-
• → Italian: speleo-
• → Latvian: speleo-
• → Serbo-Croatian: speleo-
• →⇒ Translingual: Spelerpes
  • → Italian: spelerpe

Further reading

• σπήλαιον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “σπήλαιον”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, 2011
• “σπήλαιον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• G4693 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • cave idem, page 119.
  • den idem, page 210.
  • lair idem, page 474.
  • lurking idem, page 505.
  • vault idem, page 945.