ὄφις

See also: όφις and Όφις

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *ókʷʰis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ógʷʰis (“snake”). Cognates include Sanskrit अहि (áhi), Avestan 𐬀𐬲𐬌- (aži-) and Old Armenian իժ (iž).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ó.pʰis/ → /ˈo.ɸis/ → /ˈo.fis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ó.pʰis/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈo.pʰis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.ɸis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.fis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈo.fis/

Noun

ὄφῐς • (óphis) m (genitive ὄφεως or ὄφιος); third declension

1. a serpent, snake
2. serpentine bracelet
3. (astronomy) the constellation Serpens
4. a type of creeping plant

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ὄφῐς ho óphis	τὼ ὄφει tṑ óphei	οἱ ὄφεις hoi ópheis
Genitive	τοῦ ὄφεως toû ópheōs	τοῖν ὀφέοιν toîn ophéoin	τῶν ὄφεων tôn ópheōn
Dative	τῷ ὄφει tôi óphei	τοῖν ὀφέοιν toîn ophéoin	τοῖς ὄφεσῐ / ὄφεσῐν toîs óphesi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ὄφῐν tòn óphin	τὼ ὄφει tṑ óphei	τοὺς ὄφεις toùs ópheis
Vocative	ὄφῐ óphi	ὄφει óphei	ὄφεις ópheis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of ὁ ὄφῐς; τοῦ ὄφεως (Attic)

Synonyms

• δράκων (drákōn)

Derived terms

• ὀφίδιον (ophídion)
• ὀφιοειδής (ophioeidḗs)

Descendants

• Byzantine Greek: ὄφις (óphis), ὄφης m, ὄφιος m, ὀφίδιον n (ophídion), ὀφίδιν n (ophídin), ὀφίδι n, φίδιν n (phídin), φίδι n
  • Modern Greek: φίδι (fídi), όφιος m (rare, literary)
  • Mariupol Greek: фидъ (fið)
• → Coptic: ⲟⲃⲓⲟⲛ m (obion)

Further reading

• “ὄφις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὄφις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ὄφις”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ὄφις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ὄφις in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ὄφις”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3789 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ὄφις 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.
  • serpent idem, page 755.
  • snake idem, page 788.
• 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