ψύλλα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ψῠ́λλος (psúllos)
• ψῠ́λλαξ (psúllax)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *plusy(e)h₂ (“flea”) by metathesis. Cognates include Latin pūlex, Sanskrit प्लुषि (plúṣi), Old Armenian լու (lu), Old English flēah, flēa (English flea), Albanian plesht.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /psýl.la/ → /ˈpsyl.la/ → /ˈpsi.la/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /psýl.la/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpsyl.la/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpsyl.la/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpsyl.la/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpsi.la/

Noun

ψῠ́λλᾰ • (psúlla) f (genitive ψῠ́λλης); first declension

1. flea
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, True Story 1.13:

     τούτων δὲ οἱ μὲν Ψυλλοτοξόται ἐπὶ ψυλλῶν μεγάλων ἱππάζονται, ὅθεν καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἔχουσιν.

     toútōn dè hoi mèn Psullotoxótai epì psullôn megálōn hippázontai, hóthen kaì tḕn prosēgorían ékhousin.

     The flea-archers ride on great fleas, which is also where they get their name from.

2. type of venomous spider, perhaps a type of widow
3. type of crop-eating insect

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ψῠ́λλᾰ; τῆς ψῠ́λλης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ψῠ́λλᾰ hē psúlla	τὼ ψῠ́λλᾱ tṑ psúllā	αἱ ψῠ́λλαι hai psúllai
Genitive	τῆς ψῠ́λλης tês psúllēs	τοῖν ψῠ́λλαιν toîn psúllain	τῶν ψῠλλῶν tôn psullôn
Dative	τῇ ψῠ́λλῃ têi psúllēi	τοῖν ψῠ́λλαιν toîn psúllain	ταῖς ψῠ́λλαις taîs psúllais
Accusative	τὴν ψῠ́λλᾰν tḕn psúllan	τὼ ψῠ́λλᾱ tṑ psúllā	τᾱ̀ς ψῠ́λλᾱς tā̀s psúllās
Vocative	ψῠ́λλᾰ psúlla	ψῠ́λλᾱ psúllā	ψῠ́λλαι psúllai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ψύλλιον (psúllion)

References

• “ψύλλα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ψύλλα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ψύλλα 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.
  • flea idem, page 327.
• 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