λίθος
Ancient Greek
Etymology
Uncertain.[1] Has been compared to λεῖος (leîos, “smooth”), λιτός (litós, “simple, plain”), Latin laedō (“to strike, hurt”), Lithuanian slidùs (“slippery, slick”), Proto-Balto-Slavic *ledús (“ice”).
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /lí.tʰos/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈli.tʰos/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈli.θos/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈli.θos/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈli.θos/
Noun
λῐ́θος • (lĭ́thos) m or f (genitive λῐ́θου); second declension
- a stone
- Synonym: πέτρος (pétros)
- stone as a substance
- Synonym: πέτρα (pétra)
- stone, pebble (used as as piece in a board-game)
- large rock or stone block, used as a seat to a speaker's platform, especially in the Assembly or in the Athenian agora, where archons, arbitrators and certain witnesses swore oaths
Usage notes
- Usually a masculine noun, but occasionally treated as feminine. This often (but not always) is used to refer to some special stone, such as a gem or magnet.
Declension
| Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ὁ / ἡ λῐ́θος ho / hē lĭ́thos |
τὼ λῐ́θω tṑ lĭ́thō |
οἱ / αἱ λῐ́θοι hoi / hai lĭ́thoi | ||||||||||
| Genitive | τοῦ / τῆς λῐ́θου toû / tês lĭ́thou |
τοῖν λῐ́θοιν toîn lĭ́thoin |
τῶν λῐ́θων tôn lĭ́thōn | ||||||||||
| Dative | τῷ / τῇ λῐ́θῳ tōî / tēî lĭ́thōi |
τοῖν λῐ́θοιν toîn lĭ́thoin |
τοῖς / ταῖς λῐ́θοις toîs / taîs lĭ́thois | ||||||||||
| Accusative | τὸν / τὴν λῐ́θον tòn / tḕn lĭ́thon |
τὼ λῐ́θω tṑ lĭ́thō |
τοὺς / τᾱ̀ς λῐ́θους toùs / tā̀s lĭ́thous | ||||||||||
| Vocative | λῐ́θε lĭ́the |
λῐ́θω lĭ́thō |
λῐ́θοι lĭ́thoi | ||||||||||
| Notes: |
| ||||||||||||
| Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | λῐ́θος lĭ́thos |
λῐ́θω lĭ́thō |
λῐ́θοι lĭ́thoi | ||||||||||
| Genitive | λῐ́θου / λῐ́θοιο / λῐ́θοο lĭ́thou / lĭ́thoio / lĭ́thoo |
λῐ́θοιν / λῐ́θοιῐν lĭ́thoi(ĭ)n |
λῐ́θων lĭ́thōn | ||||||||||
| Dative | λῐ́θῳ lĭ́thōi |
λῐ́θοιν / λῐ́θοιῐν lĭ́thoi(ĭ)n |
λῐ́θοις / λῐ́θοισῐ / λῐ́θοισῐν lĭ́thois / lĭ́thoisĭ(n) | ||||||||||
| Accusative | λῐ́θον lĭ́thon |
λῐ́θω lĭ́thō |
λῐ́θους lĭ́thous | ||||||||||
| Vocative | λῐ́θε lĭ́the |
λῐ́θω lĭ́thō |
λῐ́θοι lĭ́thoi | ||||||||||
| Notes: |
| ||||||||||||
Derived terms
- λιθάργυρος (lithárguros)
- λιθουργός (lithourgós)
- μονόλιθος (monólithos)
- λίθινος (líthinos)
- λιθωτός (lithōtós)
Descendants
- ⇒ taxonomic name: Lithops
- → Catalan: liti (learned)
- → English: -lite, -lith, lith-, litho-
- → Georgian: ლითონი (litoni)
- ⇒ New Latin: lithium (see there for further descendants)
- → English: lithium
References
- ^ 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
Further reading
- “λίθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “λίθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “λίθος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- λίθος 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
- λίθος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
- “λίθος”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
- G3037 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.
- λίθος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011
Greek
Etymology
Learnedly, from Ancient Greek λῐ́θος m or f (lĭ́thos).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈli.θos/
- Hyphenation: λί‧θος
Noun
λίθος • (líthos) m or f (plural λίθοι)
- masculine form:
- stone (building material)
- ο θεμέλιος λίθος ― o themélios líthos ― the foundation stone
- (medicine, formal) stone, calculus
- (archaeology) Εποχή του Λίθου (“Stone Age”)
- stone (building material)
- feminine form (in compounds referring to special stones):
- λυδία λίθος (“touch stone”)
- φιλοσοφική λίθος (“philosopher's stone”)
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | λίθος (líthos) | λίθοι (líthoi) |
| genitive | λίθου (líthou) | λίθων (líthon) |
| accusative | λίθο (lítho) | λίθους (líthous) |
| vocative | λίθε (líthe) | λίθοι (líthoi) |
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Related terms
Expressions
- ακρογωνιαίος λίθος m (akrogoniaíos líthos, “cornerstone”)
- ημιπολύτιμος λίθος m (imipolýtimos líthos)
- θεμέλιος λίθος m (themélios líthos)
- κινώ πάντα λίθον (kinó pánta líthon)
- λίθοι, πλίνθοι και κέραμοι ατάκτως ερριμένα (líthoi, plínthoi kai kéramoi atáktos erriména)
- πολύτιμος λίθος m (polýtimos líthos)
Derivatives and compounds
- απολίθωμα n (apolíthoma, “fossil”)
- ασβεστόλιθος m (asvestólithos, “limestone”)
- λιθίαση f (lithíasi)
- λιθικός (lithikós)
- λίθινος f (líthinos)
- λιθογραφία f (lithografía, “lithograph, lithography”)
- λιθόκτιστος (lithóktistos)
- λιθοξόος m (lithoxóos)
- λιθόστρωτο n (lithóstroto, “cobblestone”)
- λιθόσφαιρα f (lithósfaira, “lithosphere”)
- λιθοτριψία f (lithotripsía)
- λιθώδης f (lithódis)
- μονόλιθος m (monólithos)
- σφραγιδόλιθος m (sfragidólithos)
- σχιστόλιθος m (schistólithos)
Further reading
- λίθος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia el
- λίθος, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language