μορφή

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly of Pre-Greek origin.

• Many attempts have been made to connect it with Latin fōrma (see there for theory of its origin), but the proposed relationship is problematic.
• An alternative relationship has been proposed with Baltic terms like Latgalian mārga (“daughter, lass”) and Lithuanian merga (“girl”), with a semantic shift "shape" > "lovely shape" > "girl".

Pronunciation

Noun

μορφή • (morphḗ) f (genitive μορφῆς); first declension

1. shape, form
2. appearance
3. outline
4. kind, type

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

• Greek: μορφή f (morfí)

References

Further reading

• “μορφή”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μορφή”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “μορφή”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• μορφή 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
• μορφή in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G3444 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • appearance idem, page 35.
  • fashion idem, page 308.
  • figure idem, page 319.
  • form idem, page 338.
  • shape idem, page 762.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ).

Noun

μορφή • (morfí) f (plural μορφές)

1. form, shape

Declension

Related terms

• and compare with: μόρφωση f (mórfosi, “education”)