χελώνη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *gʰelu-, *gʰelew- ,*gʰelōw- (“tortoise”). Related to χέλυς (khélus, “tortoise”). Compare to Proto-Slavic *žьlvъ, whence Old Church Slavonic желꙑ (žely, “turtle”), Polish żółw (“tortoise”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰe.lɔ̌ː.nɛː/ → /çeˈlo.ni/ → /çeˈlo.ni/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰe.lɔ̌ː.nɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kʰeˈlo.ne̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /çeˈlo.ni/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /çeˈlo.ni/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /çeˈlo.ni/

Noun

χελώνη • (khelṓnē) f (genitive χελώνης); first declension

1. tortoise

Inflection

First declension of ἡ χελώνη; τῆς χελώνης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ χελώνη hē khelṓnē	τὼ χελώνᾱ tṑ khelṓnā	αἱ χελῶναι hai khelônai
Genitive	τῆς χελώνης tês khelṓnēs	τοῖν χελώναιν toîn khelṓnain	τῶν χελωνῶν tôn khelōnôn
Dative	τῇ χελώνῃ têi khelṓnēi	τοῖν χελώναιν toîn khelṓnain	ταῖς χελώναις taîs khelṓnais
Accusative	τὴν χελώνην tḕn khelṓnēn	τὼ χελώνᾱ tṑ khelṓnā	τᾱ̀ς χελώνᾱς tā̀s khelṓnās
Vocative	χελώνη khelṓnē	χελώνᾱ khelṓnā	χελῶναι khelônai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἀσπιδοχελώνη (aspidokhelṓnē)
• γερροχελώνη (gerrhokhelṓnē)
• χελωνάριον (khelōnárion)
• χελωνία (khelōnía)
• χελωνιάς (khelōniás)
• χελώνινος (khelṓninos)
• χελώνιον (khelṓnion)
• χελωνίς (khelōnís)
• χελωνοειδής (khelōnoeidḗs)
• χελωνοφάγος (khelōnophágos)

 

Descendants

• Greek: χελώνα f (chelóna, “tortoise, turtle”)
• → Spanish: quelonio
• → Translingual: Chelonia, Chelonia
  • → English: chelonian

References

• “χελώνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “χελώνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• χελώνη 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.
  • penthouse idem, page 603.
  • tortoise idem, page 884.