ἄφθα

See also: άφθα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

A term first attested in Hippokrates, with doubt connected to ἅπτω (háptō, “to burn or to fasten, join”). Possibly a technical loan with physicians from Aramaic with emphatic state ending, later attested only in one particular meaning in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic אַפְצָא (ʾap̄ṣā), Classical Syriac ܐܱܦܨܳܐ (ʾap̄ṣā, “oakgalls”), verb אֲפַץ (ʾap̄aṣ, “to dress with gallnut juice”), but more generally Mishnaic Hebrew אָפַץ (ʾāp̄aṣ), אָפַס (ʾāp̄as, “to press, to squeeze”). ἀψίς (apsís), ἁψίς (hapsís, “net, mesh; bow”) is also only doubtingly derived from ἅπτω (háptō, “to fasten, join”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ápʰ.tʰa/ → /ˈaɸ.θa/ → /ˈaf.θa/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ápʰ.tʰa/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈapʰ.tʰa/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈaɸ.θa/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈaf.θa/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈaf.θa/

Noun

ἄφθᾰ • (áphtha) f (genitive ἄφθης); first declension

1. (pathology, chiefly in the plural) aphtha, mouth ulcer, thrush

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ᾰ̓́φθᾰ; τῆς ᾰ̓́φθης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ᾰ̓́φθᾰ hē áphtha	τὼ ᾰ̓́φθᾱ tṑ áphthā	αἱ ᾰ̓́φθαι hai áphthai
Genitive	τῆς ᾰ̓́φθης tês áphthēs	τοῖν ᾰ̓́φθαιν toîn áphthain	τῶν ᾰ̓φθῶν tôn aphthôn
Dative	τῇ ᾰ̓́φθῃ têi áphthēi	τοῖν ᾰ̓́φθαιν toîn áphthain	ταῖς ᾰ̓́φθαις taîs áphthais
Accusative	τὴν ᾰ̓́φθᾰν tḕn áphthan	τὼ ᾰ̓́φθᾱ tṑ áphthā	τᾱ̀ς ᾰ̓́φθᾱς tā̀s áphthās
Vocative	ᾰ̓́φθᾰ áphtha	ᾰ̓́φθᾱ áphthā	ᾰ̓́φθαι áphthai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἀφθώδης (aphthṓdēs)
• ἀφθᾰ́ω (aphtháō)

 

Descendants

• → English: aphtha
• → French: aphte
• → German: Aphthe
• → Greek: άφθα (áftha)
• → Italian: afta
• → Portuguese: afta
• → Romanian: aftă

Further reading

• “ἄφθα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἄφθα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄφθα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• ἄφθα 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, from Pre-Greek because of the group -φθ-
• Frisk, Hjalmar (1960) “ἄφθα”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 195
• Frisk, Hjalmar (1960) “ἁψίς”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 204
• Jastrow, Marcus (1903) A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons, page 107a