ὄστρακον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally held to be related to ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”) and ὄστρεον (óstreon, “oyster”). Beekes considers it more likely to be Pre-Greek, which does not exclude a relation to ὄστρεον (óstreon).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ós.tra.kon/ → /ˈos.tra.kon/ → /ˈos.tra.kon/

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

Noun

ὄστρᾰκον • (óstrakon) n (genitive ὀστρᾰ́κου); second declension

1. earthen vessel
   1. fragment of such a vessel, potsherd
   2. earthen castanet
2. the hard shell of animals such as mollusks and turtles
   1. mother of pearl
   2. eggshell

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ὄστρᾰκον tò óstrakon	τὼ ὀστρᾰ́κω tṑ ostrákō	τᾰ̀ ὄστρᾰκᾰ tà óstraka
Genitive	τοῦ ὀστρᾰ́κου toû ostrákou	τοῖν ὀστρᾰ́κοιν toîn ostrákoin	τῶν ὀστρᾰ́κων tôn ostrákōn
Dative	τῷ ὀστρᾰ́κῳ tôi ostrákōi	τοῖν ὀστρᾰ́κοιν toîn ostrákoin	τοῖς ὀστρᾰ́κοις toîs ostrákois
Accusative	τὸ ὄστρᾰκον tò óstrakon	τὼ ὀστρᾰ́κω tṑ ostrákō	τᾰ̀ ὄστρᾰκᾰ tà óstraka
Vocative	ὄστρᾰκον óstrakon	ὀστρᾰ́κω ostrákō	ὄστρᾰκᾰ óstraka
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of τὸ ὄστρᾰκον; τοῦ ὀστρᾰ́κου (Attic)

Derived terms

• μᾰλᾰκόστρᾰκος (malakóstrakos)
• ὀστρᾰκῐ́ζω (ostrakízō)
• ὀστρᾰ́κῐνος (ostrákinos)
• ὀστρᾰκῐ́ς (ostrakís)
• ὀστρᾰκόδερμος (ostrakódermos)
• ὀστρᾰκώδης (ostrakṓdēs)

 

Descendants

• Greek: όστρακο (óstrako)
• → Latin: astracum
  • French: âtre
  • Portuguese: óstraco
  • Galician: ástrago
  • Italian: lastrico
  • Neapolitan: asteco
  • → Old High German: esterih
    • Middle High German: esterich
      • German: Estrich
      • → Polish: strych

Further reading

• “ὄστρακον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὄστρακον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ὄστρακον 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.
  • potsherd idem, page 629.
  • shell idem, page 764.
  • sherd idem, page 765.
• 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