ἄμμος

• ᾰ̔́μμος (hámmos)

Traditionally considered a contamination of ἄμαθος (ámathos, “sand”) and ψάμμος (psámmos, “sand”). Even if not, likely a loan from some European substrate; said substrate status makes phonetic analysis such as the contamination theory above difficult, as the word likely does not follow traditional Indo-European sound laws.^[1]

ᾰ̓́μμος • (ámmos) f (genitive ᾰ̓́μμου); second declension

1. sand
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 110A:

     σήραγγες δὲ καὶ ἄμμος καὶ πηλὸς ἀμήχανος καὶ βόρβοροί εἰσιν

     sḗranges dè kaì ámmos kaì pēlòs amḗkhanos kaì bórboroí eisin

2. sandy ground, a racecourse
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.3.6:

     ἐάν που κινδυνεύειν δέῃ, πότερον ἐπάγειν τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμμον κελεύσεις

     eán pou kinduneúein déēi, póteron epágein toùs polemíous epì tḕn ámmon keleúseis

• ψάμμος (psámmos, “sand”)

• Greek: άμμος

• “ἄμμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄμμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἄμμος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄμμος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• G285 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.
  • sand idem, page 733.