κάππαρις

Ancient Greek

κάππαρις illustration in the Vienna Dioscurides

Etymology

The word has been connected with Persian کبر (kabar, “caper”) and Burushaski [script needed] (čopuri)^[1] (a language isolate), suggesting an Oriental origin.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /káp.pa.ris/ → /ˈkap.pa.ris/ → /ˈka.pa.ris/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /káp.pa.ris/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkap.pa.ris/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈkap.pa.ris/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈkap.pa.ris/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈka.pa.ris/

Noun

κάππαρις • (kápparis) f (genitive καππάρεως); third declension

1. caper (Capparis spinosa)

Declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κάππαρῐς hē kápparis	τὼ καππάρει tṑ kappárei	αἱ καππάρεις hai kappáreis
Genitive	τῆς καππάρεως tês kappáreōs	τοῖν καππαρέοιν toîn kapparéoin	τῶν καππάρεων tôn kappáreōn
Dative	τῇ καππάρει têi kappárei	τοῖν καππαρέοιν toîn kapparéoin	ταῖς καππάρεσῐ / καππάρεσῐν taîs kappáresi(n)
Accusative	τὴν κάππαρῐν tḕn kápparin	τὼ καππάρει tṑ kappárei	τᾱ̀ς καππάρεις tā̀s kappáreis
Vocative	κάππαρῐ káppari	καππάρει kappárei	καππάρεις kappáreis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of ἡ κάππαρῐς; τῆς καππάρεως (Attic)

Derived terms

• καππάριον (kappárion)
• κάππαρος (kápparos)

 

Descendants

• Greek: κάπαρη (kápari)
• → Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܟܦܪ (kappar, kappār), ܩܦܪ (qappar, qappār)

  • → Arabic: كَبَر (kabar), كَبَّار (kabbār), قَبَّار (qabbār)
    • → Middle Armenian: կապպար (kappar)
• → Latin: capparis
  • → English: caper
  • → Italian: cappero
  • → Translingual: Capparis
• → Ottoman Turkish: كبره (gebere)
  • Turkish: gebre
  • → Armenian: գաբարա (gabara)

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κάππαρις”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 639

Further reading

• “κάππαρις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• κάππαρις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “κάππαρις”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011