ἄγκυρα

See also: άγκυρα, Άγκυρα, and Ἄγκυρα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enk-ur-ya-, from *h₂enk- (“corner, hirn”) (whence also ἄγκος (ánkos)). This is supported by the OED;^[1] however, Beekes is skeptical, due to the suffix -ῡρα (-ūra) being associated with presumably-substrate words including γέφῡρᾰ (géphūra, “dam, dike”) and γόργῡρα (górgūra, “underground sewer”), and takes the word as Pre-Greek.^[2]

The Greek word is the origin of or from the same source as Latin ancora.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /áŋ.kyː.ra/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈaŋ.ky.ra/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈaɲ.ɟy.ra/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈaɲ.ɟy.ra/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈaɲ.ɟi.ra/

Noun

ἄγκῡρα • (ánkūra) f (genitive ἀγκῡ́ρᾱς); first declension

anchor
hook

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ἄγκῡρᾰ; τῆς ἀγκῡ́ρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἄγκῡρᾰ hē ánkūra	τὼ ἀγκῡ́ρᾱ tṑ ankū́rā	αἱ ἄγκῡραι hai ánkūrai
Genitive	τῆς ἀγκῡ́ρᾱς tês ankū́rās	τοῖν ἀγκῡ́ραιν toîn ankū́rain	τῶν ἀγκῡρῶν tôn ankūrôn
Dative	τῇ ἀγκῡ́ρᾳ têi ankū́rāi	τοῖν ἀγκῡ́ραιν toîn ankū́rain	ταῖς ἀγκῡ́ραις taîs ankū́rais
Accusative	τὴν ἄγκῡρᾰν tḕn ánkūran	τὼ ἀγκῡ́ρᾱ tṑ ankū́rā	τᾱ̀ς ἀγκῡ́ρᾱς tā̀s ankū́rās
Vocative	ἄγκῡρᾰ ánkūra	ἀγκῡ́ρᾱ ankū́rā	ἄγκῡραι ánkūrai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Greek: άγκυρα (ágkyra)
→ Latin: ancora (or a cognate) (see there for further descendants)
→ Old Tamil: 𑀦𑀗𑁰𑀓𑀽𑀭𑀫𑁰 (naṅkūram)
- Malayalam: നങ്കൂരം (naṅkūraṁ), അങ്കുരം (aṅkuraṁ)
- Tamil: நங்கூரம் (naṅkūram)
→ Persian: لنگر (langar)
- → Arabic: أَنْجَر (ʔanjar)
- → Gujarati: લંગર (laṅgar)
- → Ottoman Turkish: لنگر (lenger)
  - Turkish: lenger
  - → Armenian: լէնկէռ (lēnkēṙ)
- → Uyghur: لەڭگەر (lengger)
  - → Mandarin: 蘭干 (Lángān)

References

^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἄγκῡρα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 13

“ἄγκυρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ἄγκυρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
ἄγκυρα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
ἄγκυρα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
“ἄγκυρα”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G45 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.
- anchor idem, page 29.

[1] Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

[2] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἄγκῡρα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 13

[1]

[2]