βασσάρα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Herodotus calls the word Libyan, which seems supported by the etymological connection with Coptic ⲃⲁϣⲁⲣ (bašar); Černý, however, regards the Coptic as a loanword from Greek. Szemerényi further tries to maintain the connection with Hittite (u̯aššuu̯ar, “clothing”), rightly rejected by Neumann.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bas.sá.raː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /basˈsa.ra/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /βasˈsa.ra/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /vasˈsa.ra/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /vaˈsa.ra/

Noun

βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱ • (bassárā) f (genitive βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱς); first declension

fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Synonym: ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx)
dress of Thracian bacchanals, made of fox skins
(by extension) Thracian bacchanal
(by extension) impudent woman, courtesan

Inflection

First declension of ἡ βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱ; τῆς βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱ hē bassárā	τὼ βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱ tṑ bassárā	αἱ βᾰσσᾰ́ραι hai bassárai
Genitive	τῆς βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱς tês bassárās	τοῖν βᾰσσᾰ́ραιν toîn bassárain	τῶν βᾰσσᾰρῶν tôn bassarôn
Dative	τῇ βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾳ têi bassárāi	τοῖν βᾰσσᾰ́ραιν toîn bassárain	ταῖς βᾰσσᾰ́ραις taîs bassárais
Accusative	τὴν βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱν tḕn bassárān	τὼ βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱ tṑ bassárā	τᾱ̀ς βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱς tā̀s bassárās
Vocative	βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱ bassárā	βᾰσσᾰ́ρᾱ bassárā	βᾰσσᾰ́ραι bassárai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

βασσαρεύς (bassareús)
βασσαρέω (bassaréō)
βασσαρικός (bassarikós)
βασσάριον (bassárion)
βασσαρίς (bassarís)
βάσσαρος (bássaros)

Descendants

→ Coptic: ⲃⲁϣⲟⲣ (bašor), ⲃⲁϣⲁⲣ (bašar)
→ New Latin: bassariscus

References

“βασσάρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
βασσάρα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
βασσάρα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
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