σφήν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unknown. Has been linked to Sanskrit स्फ्य (sphya, “oar; spar”) and Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, shaving”), but this is phonologically impossible due to the aspirated labial (/pʰ/) in Greek.^[1] Pre-Greek origin is likely.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /spʰɛ̌ːn/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /spʰe̝n/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /sɸin/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /sfin/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /sfin/

Noun

σφήν • (sphḗn) m (genitive σφηνός); third declension

wedge (part of a simple machine); also used as an instrument of torture
- 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 64:
  ἀδαμαντίνου νῦν σφηνὸς αὐθάδη γνάθον στέρνων διαμπὰξ πασσάλευ' ἐῤῥωμένως
  adamantínou nûn sphēnòs authádē gnáthon stérnōn diampàx passáleu' errhōménōs

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ σφήν; τοῦ σφηνός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ σφήν ho sphḗn	τὼ σφῆνε tṑ sphêne	οἱ σφῆνες hoi sphênes
Genitive	τοῦ σφηνός toû sphēnós	τοῖν σφηνοῖν toîn sphēnoîn	τῶν σφηνῶν tôn sphēnôn
Dative	τῷ σφηνῐ́ tôi sphēní	τοῖν σφηνοῖν toîn sphēnoîn	τοῖς σφησῐ́ / σφησῐ́ν toîs sphēsí(n)
Accusative	τὸν σφῆνᾰ tòn sphêna	τὼ σφῆνε tṑ sphêne	τοὺς σφῆνᾰς toùs sphênas
Vocative	σφήν sphḗn	σφῆνε sphêne	σφῆνες sphênes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ᾰ̓ντῐσφήν (antisphḗn)
ἐνσφηνόομαι (ensphēnóomai)
ἐπῐ́σφηνος (epísphēnos)
κᾰτᾰσφηνόομαι (katasphēnóomai)
πᾰρᾰσφήνῐον (parasphḗnion)
σφηνᾰ́ρῐον (sphēnárion)
σφηνεύς (sphēneús)
σφηνῐ́σκος (sphēnískos)
σφηνοειδής (sphēnoeidḗs)
σφηνοκέφᾰλος (sphēnoképhalos)
σφηνόπους (sphēnópous)
σφηνοπώγων (sphēnopṓgōn)
σφηνόω (sphēnóō)

Descendants

→ Arabic: إِسْفِين (ʔisfīn), سَفِين (safīn), سَفَن (safan)
→ Classical Syriac: ܣܦܝܢܐ (sp̄īnā), ܐܣܦܢܐ (ʾespēnā)
⇒ English: spheno-, sphen- (before a vowel)
→ French: sphène
- → English: sphene
- → Romanian: sfen
Greek: σφήνα (sfína)
Mariupol Greek: сфи́на (sfína)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σφήν, σφηνός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1430

“σφήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“σφήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“σφήν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
σφήν 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
“σφήν”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G3816 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.
- wedge idem, page 971.
Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “σφήν”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
University of Helsinki “*s”, in Proto-Indo-European Lexicon

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σφήν, σφηνός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1430

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