There is no correspondance in other Indo-European languages. A widespread group in Balto-Slavic and Germanic has been adduced: Russian коро́бить (koróbitʹ, “to bend, warp”), Lithuanian skrèbti (“to get stiff”), Old Norse skorpna (“to writhe, wither”), from an Indo-Euopean root *skrebʰ-. Within Greek, we find the glosses κορφῶς (korphôs, “light, small”) and κέρβαλα (kérbala, “weak”). The problem with this etymology is the consistent α-vocalism of the Greek words. According to Beekes, the verb is rather from Pre-Greek.
κᾰ́ρφω • (kárphō)
| number | singular | dual | plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| first | second | third | second | third | first | second | third | ||||||
| active | indicative | κᾰ́ρψω | κᾰ́ρψεις | κᾰ́ρψει | κᾰ́ρψετον | κᾰ́ρψετον | κᾰ́ρψομεν | κᾰ́ρψετε | κᾰ́ρψουσῐ(ν) | ||||
| optative | κᾰ́ρψοιμῐ | κᾰ́ρψοις | κᾰ́ρψοι | κᾰ́ρψοιτον | κᾰρψοίτην | κᾰ́ρψοιμεν | κᾰ́ρψοιτε | κᾰ́ρψοιεν | |||||
| middle | indicative | κᾰ́ρψομαι | κᾰ́ρψῃ, κᾰ́ρψει |
κᾰ́ρψεται | κᾰ́ρψεσθον | κᾰ́ρψεσθον | κᾰρψόμεθᾰ | κᾰ́ρψεσθε | κᾰ́ρψονται | ||||
| optative | κᾰρψοίμην | κᾰ́ρψοιο | κᾰ́ρψοιτο | κᾰ́ρψοισθον | κᾰρψοίσθην | κᾰρψοίμεθᾰ | κᾰ́ρψοισθε | κᾰ́ρψοιντο | |||||
| active | middle | ||||||||||||
| infinitive | κᾰ́ρψειν | κᾰ́ρψεσθαι | |||||||||||
| participle | m | κᾰ́ρψων | κᾰρψόμενος | ||||||||||
| f | κᾰ́ρψουσᾰ | κᾰρψομένη | |||||||||||
| n | κᾰ́ρψον | κᾰρψόμενον | |||||||||||
| Notes: | This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For conjugation in dialects other than Attic, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal conjugation.
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