σφενδόνη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Often connected with σφεδανός (sphedanós), σφοδρός (sphodrós), σφαδάζω (sphadázō), and Sanskrit स्पन्दते (spandate, “to vibrate, tremble, quake”), as well as with Latin funda (“sling”), with formation structure similar to that of ἀγχόνη (ankhónē), βελόνη (belónē), and περόνη (perónē). The similarity with the Latin term suggests a Mediterranean, Anatolian, and/or Pre-Greek borrowing for both.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /spʰen.dó.nɛː/ → /sɸenˈdo.ni/ → /sfenˈdo.ni/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /spʰen.dó.nɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /spʰenˈdo.ne̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /sɸenˈdo.ni/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /sfenˈdo.ni/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /sfenˈdo.ni/

Nomen

σφενδόνη • (sphendónē) f (genitive σφενδόνης); first declension

1. a sling
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 13.600
   • 680 BCE – 645 BCE, Archilochus, Collected Works 3
   • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 1142
   • 414 BCE, Aristophanes, The Birds 1185
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.32
   • 408 BCE – 334 BCE, Antiphanes Comicus, Collected Works 55.19
   1. a sling as part of a crane used in unloading ships
      • Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum 241
      • A 46
      • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1010
2. anything fundiform:
   1. (medicine) a sling:
      1. for a disabled arm
         • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On Joints 16
      2. a suspensory abdominal bandage
         • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On the Diseases of Women 2.144
         • 50 CE – 150 CE, Soranus, Fasc. 48
   2. a headband worn by women, broad in front
      • Poll. 5.96
      • 1115 – 1195, Eustathius of Thessalonica, ad D.P. 7
   3. a bezel, a collet (the hoop of a ring in which the gemstone is set as in a sling; especially, the outer or broader part round the stone)
      • 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 862
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 359e
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 207a.3
   4. a sclera (the white of an eye)
      • ante 177 CE, Pollux, Onomasticon 2.70
3. a slingstone (a stone, bullet, or other such missile or projectile thrown by a sling)

   Synonym: χερμᾰ́ς (khermás)

   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 3.4.4
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 5.2.14
   1. a hailstone
      • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 1125

Declension

First declension of ἡ σφενδόνη; τῆς σφενδόνης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ σφενδόνη hē sphendónē	τὼ σφενδόνᾱ tṑ sphendónā	αἱ σφενδόναι hai sphendónai
Genitive	τῆς σφενδόνης tês sphendónēs	τοῖν σφενδόναιν toîn sphendónain	τῶν σφενδονῶν tôn sphendonôn
Dative	τῇ σφενδόνῃ têi sphendónēi	τοῖν σφενδόναιν toîn sphendónain	ταῖς σφενδόναις taîs sphendónais
Accusative	τὴν σφενδόνην tḕn sphendónēn	τὼ σφενδόνᾱ tṑ sphendónā	τᾱ̀ς σφενδόνᾱς tā̀s sphendónās
Vocative	σφενδόνη sphendónē	σφενδόνᾱ sphendónā	σφενδόναι sphendónai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• βελοσφενδόνη (belosphendónē)
• κεστροσφενδόνη (kestrosphendónē)
• σφενδονάω (sphendonáō)
• σφενδονέω (sphendonéō)
• σφενδονηδόν (sphendonēdón)
• σφενδόνησις (sphendónēsis)
• σφενδονήτης (sphendonḗtēs)
• σφενδονητικός (sphendonētikós)
• σφενδονίζω (sphendonízō)
• σφενδονίστης (sphendonístēs)
• σφενδονοειδής (sphendonoeidḗs)

 

Descendants

• Greek: σφεντόνα (sfentóna)

Further reading

• “σφενδόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “σφενδόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• σφενδόνη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette