Κυπάρα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Sicel. Compare Κυπυρα (Kupura) and Κυπρα (Kupra), which are also attested in Sicily. It is possible that the form Κυπάρα (Kupára) emerged from the anaptyxis of Κυπρα (Kupra), though α (a) and υ (u) anaptyxis were both present in the Osco-Umbrian languages, which may have influenced the Greek term.^[1] It is possibly related to the Italic goddess dea Cupra,^[1] and the term probably ultimately derives from Proto-Italic *kupros, from Proto-Indo-European *kwep-.^[2]

Proper noun

Κυπάρα • (Kupára) f (genitive Κυπάρᾱς); first declension

a female name
- Inscription at Morgantina, published in Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 45.1385:
  Κυπάρας ἐμί
  Kupáras emí
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

First declension of ἡ Κυπάρᾱ; τῆς Κυπάρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ Κυπάρᾱ hē Kupárā	τὼ Κυπάρᾱ tṑ Kupárā	αἱ Κυπάραι hai Kupárai
Genitive	τῆς Κυπάρᾱς tês Kupárās	τοῖν Κυπάραιν toîn Kupárain	τῶν Κυπαρῶν tôn Kuparôn
Dative	τῇ Κυπάρᾳ tēî Kupárāi	τοῖν Κυπάραιν toîn Kupárain	ταῖς Κυπάραις taîs Kupárais
Accusative	τὴν Κυπάρᾱν tḕn Kupárān	τὼ Κυπάρᾱ tṑ Kupárā	τᾱ̀ς Κυπάρᾱς tā̀s Kupárās
Vocative	Κυπάρᾱ Kupárā	Κυπάρᾱ Kupárā	Κυπάραι Kupárai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Usage notes

In the context of this inscription containing the term, which was discovered on a larger krater, it may function as wordplay on the term κύπαρος (kúparos, “cell of a honeycomb”), which could describe a hollow object. According to the archaeologist Carla Antonaccio, such punning would not be out of place in an Ancient Greek symposium, which were often treated as a time for festivity and joviality.^[3]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Antonaccio, Carla M. (1999), Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik‎^[1], volume 126, pages 181-182
^ Prósper, Blanca María; Medrano Duque, Marcos (2022), “Ancient Gaulish and British Divinities: Notes on the Reconstruction of Celtic Phonology and Morphology”, in Вопросы ономастики‎^[2], volume 19, number 2, Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta, →DOI, →ISSN, page 27 of 9-47
^ Antonaccio, Carla (1997), “Urbanism at Archaic Morgantina”, in Andersen, Helle Damgaard, editor, Urbanization in the Mediterranean in the 9th to 6th Centuries BC‎^[3], Museum Tusculanum Press, →ISBN, page 182