ὄστρεον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ὄστρειον (óstreion)

Etymology

Traditionally assumed to be related to ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”), though Beekes rejects this connection due to lack of other evidence for an Indo-European pre-form *ostr- (as well as the word category of seafood being generally unlikely to be of Indo-European origin), and instead takes the word as Pre-Greek.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ós.tre.on/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈos.tre.on/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈos.tre.on/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈos.tre.on/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈos.tre.on/

Noun

ὄστρεον • (óstreon) n (genitive ὀστρέου); second declension

bivalve
oyster
purple pigment, probably that produced by murex

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ ὄστρεον; τοῦ ὀστρέου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ὄστρεον tò óstreon	τὼ ὀστρέω tṑ ostréō	τᾰ̀ ὄστρεᾰ tà óstrea
Genitive	τοῦ ὀστρέου toû ostréou	τοῖν ὀστρέοιν toîn ostréoin	τῶν ὀστρέων tôn ostréōn
Dative	τῷ ὀστρέῳ tôi ostréōi	τοῖν ὀστρέοιν toîn ostréoin	τοῖς ὀστρέοις toîs ostréois
Accusative	τὸ ὄστρεον tò óstreon	τὼ ὀστρέω tṑ ostréō	τᾰ̀ ὄστρεᾰ tà óstrea
Vocative	ὄστρεον óstreon	ὀστρέω ostréō	ὄστρεᾰ óstrea
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ὀστρέϊνος (ostréïnos)

Descendants

→ Latin: ostrum
- Italian: ostro
  - → English: ostro
Russian: у́стрица (ústrica)

References

“ὄστρεον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ὄστρεον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
ὄστρεον 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, page 1120

[1] 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, page 1120

[1]