πόντος

From Proto-Hellenic *póntos, from Proto-Indo-European *pónteh₁s (“path, road”).^[1]

Cognates include Sanskrit पन्था (pánthā-, “way”), Old Armenian հուն (hun, “riverbed”), Latin pōns (“bridge”), and Old English findan (English find).

Attested in Mycenaean Greek as 𐀡𐀵 (po-to).^[2]

πόντος • (póntos) m (genitive πόντου); second declension

1. the sea

   Synonyms: θάλασσα (thálassa), πέλαγος (pélagos)

   1. (often combined with epithets in Homer)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.613:

        αὐτὸς γάρ σφιν δῶκεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων
        νῆας ἐϋσσέλμους περάᾱν ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον
        Ἀτρεΐδης, ἐπεὶ οὔ σφι θαλάσσια ἔργα μεμήλει.

        autòs gár sphin dôken ánax andrôn Agamémnōn
        nêas eüssélmous peráān epì oínopa pónton
        Atreḯdēs, epeì oú sphi thalássia érga memḗlei.

        For Agamemnon son of Atreus himself had given
        strong-benched ships for crossing the wine-dark sea,
        since they weren't interested in the work of the sea.

      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.744:

        Φοίνῑκες δ’ ἄγον ἄνδρες ἐπ’ ἠεροειδέα πόντον,

        Phoínīkes d’ ágon ándres ep’ ēeroeidéa pónton,

        Phoenician men had brought over the misty sea,

      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.196–198:

        οὐ γάρ πω τέθνηκεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
        ἀλλ’ ἔτι που ζωὸς κατερῡ́κεται εὐρέϊ πόντῳ,
        νήσῳ̆ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ,

        ou gár pō téthnēken epì khthonì dîos Odusseús,
        all’ éti pou zōòs katerū́ketai euréï póntōi,
        nḗsōi en amphirútēi,

        
        For noble Odysseus hasn't died yet on earth,
        but is probably still alive and being detained on the wide sea
        on a sea-girt isle,

• (antonym(s) of “sea”): χέρσος (khérsos)

• ποντοπόρος (pontopóros)

• πάτος (pátos)

• “πόντος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πόντος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πόντος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πόντος 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
• πόντος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πόντος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • deep idem, page 203.
  • hellespont idem, page 395.
  • pontus idem, page 626.
  • sea idem, page 744.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpon.dos/

From Venetan pont (“point, end”).

πόντος • (póntos) m (plural πόντοι)

1. point (the unit of scoring in a game or competition)
2. centimeter
3. ladder (length of unravelled fabric in a knitted garment, especially in nylon stockings)

From Ancient Greek πόντος (póntos, “see above”).

πόντος • (póntos) m (plural πόντοι)

1. open sea, large sea

The more common terms:

• ωκεανός m (okeanós, “ocean”) (e.g. Atlantic, Pacific)
• θάλασσα f (thálassa, “larger sea”) (e.g. Mediterranean, Baltic, Caribbean)
• πέλαγος n (pélagos, “smaller sea”) (e.g. Adriatic, Aegean, Ionian)

• see: πέλαγος m (pélagos)

• Εύξεινος Πόντος m (Éfxeinos Póntos, “Black Sea”)