φθορά

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• φθορή (phthorḗ) — Ionic

Etymology

From φθείρω (phtheírō, “ruin, destroy, destruct”) +‎ -η (-ē).

Pronunciation

Noun

φθορᾱ́ • (phthorā́) f (genitive φθορᾶς); first declension

1. destruction, ruin
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.161
     • Herodotus, Histories 7.18
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On Regimen 1.5
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 406
   1. (of persons) death (especially by some divine act, as pestilence)
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.47
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 677a
      • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 814
   2. (of animals) loss by death
      • PStrassb. 24.26
2. (philosophy) passing out of existence, ceasing to be
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 546a
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 95e
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Philebus 55a
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 5.5.229b
   • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Collected Works 6.6
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 2.948f
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 96b
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 490e
   • 360 BCE, Plato, Timaeus 23c
3. deterioration
   • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants 5.8.2
   1. loss by deterioration, damage
4. seduction
   • 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Collected Works 1.12
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 2.712c
   • 120 CE – 175 CE, Vettius Valens, Anthology 2.37
   • 50BC-50AD, Parthenius, Collected Works 35.3
   • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.25
   1. rape
      • 64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 6.1.6
5. abortion, miscarriage
   • 50 CE – 150 CE, Soranus, Collected Works 1.56
     • Soranus, Collected Works 1.59
   • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Collected Works 17.800
6. gradation of colors in painting
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 2.346a
     • Plutarch, Moralia 2.725c
     • Plutarch, Moralia 2.393c
7. wasting away
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, Aphorisms 7.80
8. the tossings of a storm, shipwrecks
   • 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 766

Declension

Synonyms

• (wasting away): φθόη (phthóē)

Descendants

• Translingual: Phytophthora, Entomophthora
  • English: phytophthora
• Greek: φθορά (fthorá)
• → Late Latin: phthora
  • Catalan: tora
  • → French: phthore, phtore
    • English: phthor
• → Russian: фтор (ftor)
  • → Armenian: ֆտոր (ftor)

References

• “φθορά”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “φθορά”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• φθορά in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• G5356 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.
  • blight idem, page 83.
  • corruptibility idem, page 176.
  • corruption idem, page 176.
  • decay idem, page 199.
  • destruction idem, page 218.
  • downfall idem, page 249.
  • havoc idem, page 389.
  • mortality idem, page 541.
  • overthrow idem, page 586.
  • perdition idem, page 607.
  • ruin idem, page 725.
  • wasting idem, page 965.
  • wreck idem, page 992.

Greek

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fθoˈɾa/

Noun

φθορά • (fthorá) f (plural φθορές)

1. wear, wear and tear, abrasion, corrosion
2. decay, decline, deterioration

Declension