χήν

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• χᾱ́ν (khā́n) — Doric

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *kʰā́n, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns (“goose”). Cognates include Sanskrit हंस (haṃsá), Latin ānser, Russian гусь (gusʹ), Old English gōs (English goose), and Albanian gatë (“heron”).^[1]

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰɛ̌ːn/ → /çin/ → /çin/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰɛ̌ːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kʰe̝n/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /çin/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /çin/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /çin/

Noun

χήν • (khḗn) m or f (genitive χηνός); third declension

1. goose

Declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ, ἡ χήν ho, hē khḗn	τὼ χῆνε tṑ khêne	οἱ, αἱ χῆνες hoi, hai khênes
Genitive	τοῦ, τῆς χηνός toû, tês khēnós	τοῖν χηνοῖν toîn khēnoîn	τῶν χηνῶν tôn khēnôn
Dative	τῷ, τῇ χηνῐ́ tôi, têi khēnĭ́	τοῖν χηνοῖν toîn khēnoîn	τοῖς, ταῖς χησῐ́ / χησῐ́ν toîs, taîs khēsĭ́(n)
Accusative	τὸν, τὴν χῆνᾰ tòn, tḕn khênă	τὼ χῆνε tṑ khêne	τοὺς, τᾱ̀ς χῆνᾰς toùs, tā̀s khênăs
Vocative	χήν khḗn	χῆνε khêne	χῆνες khênes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of ὁ, ἡ χήν; τοῦ, τῆς χηνός (Attic)

Derived terms

• χηνάγριον (khēnágrion)
• χηναλώπηξ (khēnalṓpēx)
• χηνάριον (khēnárion)
• χηνοβοσκός (khēnoboskós)

 

Descendants

• Greek: χήνα (chína)

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χήν, χηνός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1630

Further reading

• “χήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “χήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “χήν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• χήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• χήν in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • gander idem, page 353.
  • goose idem, page 367.