Seemingly imitative of croaking, with original form something like *βρατ-αχ- (*brat-akh-),[1] but this imitation was probably not formed in Greek, but borrowed from Pre-Greek or Semitic; compare Hebrew צְפַרְדֵּעַ (ṣəp̄ardḗaʿ), Arabic ضَفْدَع (ḍafdaʕ), considering that in the dialect of Zakynthos the frog is matching the Semitic with σπορδακάς (spordakás) – unless of course one must find that Semitic and Greek have borrowed from an unknown third.[2][3]
Concerning the wide range of dialectal variation, Beekes explains that much may be due to folk etymology or taboo, combined with other phonetic alterations such as vowel displacement and even prenasalization, which indicate substrate origin: “A priori, a local (i.e. Pre-Greek) form is to be expected for all of these forms; the variation α/ο points to this.”[1] The suffix *-χ- (*-kh-) is also found in names of other animals.
An older hypothesis (cf. Pokorny 1959) links Proto-West Germanic *krodu and Latin bruscus (“frog or toad”), all from a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *gʷredʰ- (“frog, toad”), supposing metathesis (cf. Ionic βρόταχος (brótakhos)) and an original *dʰ whence perhaps the /tʰ/ of the Ionic variant βάθρακος (báthrakos), but this is phonetically very difficult. Moreover, as Beekes explains, the form with /t/ is original, whereas Ionic frequently displaces aspiration in this way.
βᾰ́τρᾰχος • (bắtrăkhos) m (genitive βᾰτρᾰ́χου); second declension
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ὁ βᾰ́τρᾰχος ho bắtrăkhos |
τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω tṑ bătrắkhō |
οἱ βᾰ́τρᾰχοι hoi bắtrăkhoi | ||||||||||
Genitive | τοῦ βᾰτρᾰ́χου toû bătrắkhou |
τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν toîn bătrắkhoin |
τῶν βᾰτρᾰ́χων tôn bătrắkhōn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῷ βᾰτρᾰ́χῳ tôi bătrắkhōi |
τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν toîn bătrắkhoin |
τοῖς βᾰτρᾰ́χοις toîs bătrắkhois | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὸν βᾰ́τρᾰχον tòn bắtrăkhon |
τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω tṑ bătrắkhō |
τοὺς βᾰτρᾰ́χους toùs bătrắkhous | ||||||||||
Vocative | βᾰ́τρᾰχε bắtrăkhe |
βᾰτρᾰ́χω bătrắkhō |
βᾰ́τρᾰχοι bắtrăkhoi | ||||||||||
Notes: |
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From Ancient Greek βάτραχος (bátrakhos, “frog”).
βάτραχος • (vátrachos) m (plural βάτραχοι)
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | βάτραχος (vátrachos) | βάτραχοι (vátrachoi) |
genitive | βατράχου (vatráchou) | βατράχων (vatráchon) |
accusative | βάτραχο (vátracho) | βατράχους (vatráchous) |
vocative | βάτραχε (vátrache) | βάτραχοι (vátrachoi) |