κύβος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Difficult to trace. The word passed to and from a number of languages (compare Latin cubus (“mass, quantity; cube”)).

Often thought to be derived from the root Proto-Indo-European *kewbh₂- (“to lie down (actively)”), reconstructed in LIV based on Latin cubō (“to lie down (passively)”) and some other verb forms. Compare Proto-Germanic *hupiz (“hip”) and Latin cubitus (“elbow”), and (formally unrelated) Ancient Greek ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos, “astragalus bone, knucklebone; dice (made from a knucklebone)”) for the semantic connection between “vertebra, bone (of an animal)” and “die, dice”. Animal bones were historically used as playing dice.

According to Beekes, words for dice are often loans and the Lydians claimed to have invented the game of κύβος (kúbos), suggesting a possible loan from Lydian.^[1]

Appears to have no relation to Arabic كَعْبَة (kaʕba).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ký.bos/ → /ˈcy.βos/ → /ˈci.vos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ký.bos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈky.bos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈcy.βos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈcy.vos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈci.vos/

Noun

κύβος • (kúbos) m (genitive κύβου); second declension

1. (geometry) square
2. (geometry) cube
3. die, dice
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Julius Caesar 32:

     τέλος δὲ μετὰ θυμοῦ τινος ὥσπερ ἀφεὶς ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ λογισμοῦ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον, καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ κοινὸν τοῖς εἰς τύχας ἐμβαίνουσιν ἀπόρους καὶ τόλμας προοίμιον ὑπειπὼν, “Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος,” ὥρμησε πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν καὶ δρόμῳ τὸ λοιπὸν ἤδη χρώμενος εἰσέπεσε πρὸ ἡμέρας εἰς τὸ Ἀρίμινον καὶ κατέσχε.

     télos dè metà thumoû tinos hṓsper apheìs heautòn ek toû logismoû pròs tò méllon, kaì toûto dḕ tò koinòn toîs eis túkhas embaínousin apórous kaì tólmas prooímion hupeipṑn, “Anerrhíphthō kúbos,” hṓrmēse pròs tḕn diábasin kaì drómōi tò loipòn ḗdē khrṓmenos eisépese prò hēméras eis tò Aríminon kaì katéskhe.

     • 1919 translation by Bernadotte Perrin

       But finally, with a sort of passion, as if abandoning calculation and casting himself upon the future, and uttering the phrase with which men usually prelude their plunge into desperate and daring fortunes, “Let the die be cast,” he hastened to cross the river; and going at full speed now for the rest of the time, before daybreak he dashed into Ariminum and took possession of it. [– See the die is cast.]

4. chance
5. (mathematics) cube, cubic number
6. (anatomy) vertebra; hollow above the hip of cattle

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κῠ́βος ho kúbos	τὼ κῠ́βω tṑ kúbō	οἱ κῠ́βοι hoi kúboi
Genitive	τοῦ κῠ́βου toû kúbou	τοῖν κῠ́βοιν toîn kúboin	τῶν κῠ́βων tôn kúbōn
Dative	τῷ κῠ́βῳ tôi kúbōi	τοῖν κῠ́βοιν toîn kúboin	τοῖς κῠ́βοις toîs kúbois
Accusative	τὸν κῠ́βον tòn kúbon	τὼ κῠ́βω tṑ kúbō	τοὺς κῠ́βους toùs kúbous
Vocative	κῠ́βε kúbe	κῠ́βω kúbō	κῠ́βοι kúboi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of ὁ κῠ́βος; τοῦ κῠ́βου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κῦβος ho kûbos	τὼ κῡ́βω tṑ kū́bō	οἱ κῦβοι hoi kûboi
Genitive	τοῦ κῡ́βου toû kū́bou	τοῖν κῡ́βοιν toîn kū́boin	τῶν κῡ́βων tôn kū́bōn
Dative	τῷ κῡ́βῳ tôi kū́bōi	τοῖν κῡ́βοιν toîn kū́boin	τοῖς κῡ́βοις toîs kū́bois
Accusative	τὸν κῦβον tòn kûbon	τὼ κῡ́βω tṑ kū́bō	τοὺς κῡ́βους toùs kū́bous
Vocative	κῦβε kûbe	κῡ́βω kū́bō	κῦβοι kûboi

Second declension of ὁ κῦβος; τοῦ κῡ́βου (Koine)

Derived terms

• κυβικός (kubikós)

Descendants

• Greek: κύβος (kývos)
• → Latin: cubus
  • → Old French: cube
    • → English: cube
    • French: cube
• → Russian: куб (kub)
• → Classical Syriac: ܩܘܒܘܣ (qwbws /⁠qūbōs⁠/, “cube”)
  • → Arabic: قوبوس (/⁠qūbōs⁠/, “cube”)

References

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

Further reading

• “κύβος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κύβος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κύβος in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • cube idem, page 188.
  • dice idem, page 222.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos).

Noun

κύβος • (kývos) m (plural κύβοι)

1. (geometry) cube

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	κύβος •	κύβοι •
genitive	κύβου •	κύβων •
accusative	κύβο •	κύβους •
vocative	κύβε •	κύβοι •

Declension of κύβος

Derived terms

• κυβικός (kyvikós, “cubic”)