τέλμα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The origin remains unexplained. Has been compared to Old Armenian տիղմ (tiłm).

Pronunciation

Noun

τέλμᾰ • (télma) n (genitive τέλμᾰτος); third declension

1. standing water, pond, marsh, swamp
2. (in the plural) lowlands subject to inundation, water meadows
3. mud used as a mortar
4. space pointed with mortar, between the courses of masonry

Inflection

Derived terms

Further reading

• “τέλμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• τέλμα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 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

Greek

Noun

τέλμα • (télma) n (plural τέλματα)

1. swamp, quagmire, bog
2. (figuratively) impasse, predicament

Declension

Synonyms

• έλος n (élos)
• βάλτος m (váltos)