πλῆκτρον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From πλήσσω (plḗssō, “to strike”) +‎ -τρον (-tron).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /plɛ̂ːk.tron/ → /ˈplik.tron/ → /ˈplik.tron/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /plɛ̂ːk.tron/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈple̝k.tron/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈplik.tron/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈplik.tron/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈplik.tron/

Noun

πλῆκτρον • (plêktron) n (genitive πλήκτρου); second declension

1. (music) plectrum (tool for striking the lyre)
2. spur

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ πλῆκτρον tò plêktron	τὼ πλήκτρω tṑ plḗktrō	τᾰ̀ πλῆκτρᾰ tà plêktra
Genitive	τοῦ πλήκτρου toû plḗktrou	τοῖν πλήκτροιν toîn plḗktroin	τῶν πλήκτρων tôn plḗktrōn
Dative	τῷ πλήκτρῳ tôi plḗktrōi	τοῖν πλήκτροιν toîn plḗktroin	τοῖς πλήκτροις toîs plḗktrois
Accusative	τὸ πλῆκτρον tò plêktron	τὼ πλήκτρω tṑ plḗktrō	τᾰ̀ πλῆκτρᾰ tà plêktra
Vocative	πλῆκτρον plêktron	πλήκτρω plḗktrō	πλῆκτρᾰ plêktra
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of τὸ πλῆκτρον; τοῦ πλήκτρου (Attic)

Descendants

• Greek: πλήκτρο (plíktro)
• → Latin: plēctrum
  • → English: plectrum
  • → French: plectre
  • → German: Plektrum
  • → Italian: plettro
  • → Portuguese: plectro
  • → Spanish: plectro
• → Norwegian Bokmål: plekter

Further reading

• “πλῆκτρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πλῆκτρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πλῆκτρον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • spur idem, page 806.