ἀμυγδάλη

See also: αμυγδαλή

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἀμύγδᾰλον (amúgdalon)
• ἀμύγδᾰλος (amúgdalos)
• ἀμυσγέλᾱ (amusgélā), ἀμυσγῠ́λᾱ (amusgúlā)

Etymology

Unknown.

According to Beekes, variations in spelling indicate "a typical" Pre-Greek substrate word, tentatively reconstructed as *amut^ygala. He also supported Furnée's comparison with μύκηρος (múkēros, “almond, kind of a nut”) and a couple of Anatolian words related to sweetness.

Alternatively, Blažek considers it possible to allow for Semitic provenance, namely to contain the term present in Hebrew שָׁקֵד (šāqḗḏ, “almond”), see there for variants, while accounting for the Greek /al/ by deeming a blend with the term in Hebrew דֶּקֶל (déqel) to participate, imagining derivations *midqalā “place planted with date-palms” and miṯqadā “place planted with almond-trees” and hybridized miṯqalā.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /a.myɡ.dá.lɛː/ → /a.myɣˈða.li/ → /a.miɣˈða.li/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /a.myɡ.dá.lɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /a.myɡˈda.le̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /a.myɣˈða.li/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /a.myɣˈða.li/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /a.miɣˈða.li/

Noun

ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λη • (amugdálē) f (genitive ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λης); first declension

1. almond
2. peach stone

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λη; τῆς ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λη hē amugdálē	τὼ ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λᾱ tṑ amugdálā	αἱ ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λαι hai amugdálai
Genitive	τῆς ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λης tês amugdálēs	τοῖν ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λαιν toîn amugdálain	τῶν ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰλῶν tôn amugdalôn
Dative	τῇ ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λῃ têi amugdálēi	τοῖν ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λαιν toîn amugdálain	ταῖς ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λαις taîs amugdálais
Accusative	τὴν ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λην tḕn amugdálēn	τὼ ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λᾱ tṑ amugdálā	τᾱ̀ς ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λᾱς tā̀s amugdálās
Vocative	ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λη amugdálē	ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λᾱ amugdálā	ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λαι amugdálai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἀμυγδάλινος (amugdálinos)

Descendants

• Greek: αμύγδαλο (amýgdalo)
• → Latin: amygdala

References

• “ἀμυγδάλη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἀμυγδάλη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἀμυγδάλη in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• ἀμυγδάλη in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• 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
• Blažek, Václav (2014) “Etymologizing ‘unetymologizable’ Greek dendronyms”, in Graeco-Latina Brunensia‎^[2], volume 19, number 1, pages 41–43