ὄρφνη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ὄρφνᾱ (órphnā) — Doric

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Hellenic *orkʷʰnā, a secondary o-grade of *erkʷʰnos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rgʷ-sno-, from *h₁régʷos (“darkness”) (whence Ἔρεβος (Érebos)).

Alternatively from the same root as:

• Proto-Germanic *erpaz and Slavic forms Russian рябо́й (rjabój, “motley”) and Proto-Slavic *arębъ (“partridge”).
• Old Armenian արջն (arǰn, “black”).
• Tocharian B / Tocharian A erkent- / arkant- (“black”) and orkamo / orkäm (“dark”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ór.pʰnɛː/ → /ˈor.ɸni/ → /ˈor.fni/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ór.pʰnɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈor.pʰne̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.ɸni/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.fni/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈor.fni/

Noun

ὄρφνη • (órphnē) f (genitive ὄρφνης); first declension

1. darkness of night, night
   • 6th century BC, Theognis of Megara, Elegies 1077
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 1.71
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 1.23
   • 423 BCE, Euripides, The Suppliants 994
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta 5.7
   • Ti.Locr. 97c
     97d
   • 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 18.19.7
   • 300 CE – 500 CE, Stobaeus, Anthology 4.23.61a
   1. darkness of the nether world
      • 416 BCE, Euripides, Herakles 46
        353

Declension

First declension of ἡ ὄρφνη; τῆς ὄρφνης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ὄρφνη hē órphnē	τὼ ὄρφνᾱ tṑ órphnā	αἱ ὄρφναι hai órphnai
Genitive	τῆς ὄρφνης tês órphnēs	τοῖν ὄρφναιν toîn órphnain	τῶν ὀρφνῶν tôn orphnôn
Dative	τῇ ὄρφνῃ têi órphnēi	τοῖν ὄρφναιν toîn órphnain	ταῖς ὄρφναις taîs órphnais
Accusative	τὴν ὄρφνην tḕn órphnēn	τὼ ὄρφνᾱ tṑ órphnā	τᾱ̀ς ὄρφνᾱς tā̀s órphnās
Vocative	ὄρφνη órphnē	ὄρφνᾱ órphnā	ὄρφναι órphnai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ὀρφναῖος (orphnaîos)
• ὀρφνήεις (orphnḗeis)
• ὄρφνῐνος (órphninos)
• ὄρφνῐος (órphnios)
• ὀρφνίς (orphnís)
• ὀρφνῑ́της (orphnī́tēs)
• ὀρφνός (orphnós)
• ὀρφνώδης (orphnṓdēs)

Further reading

• “ὄρφνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὄρφνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ὄρφνη 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.
  • darkness idem, page 195.
  • gloom idem, page 362.
  • murkiness idem, page 547.
  • obscurity idem, page 566.