βράχεα

See also: βραχέα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

A plural neuter as though from βράχος (brákhos), traditionally derived from βραχέα (brakhéa, “neuter plural of βραχύς (brakhús, “short, brief”)”), as in the phrase βραχέα ὕδατα (brakhéa húdata, “shallow waters”), already in Herodotus.^[1]

Beekes neither espouses nor rejects this derivation,^[2] but offers an alternative theory that the word is related to the scantly-attested βράγος (brágos, “marsh-meadow”), and along with it, related to Albanian bërrakë (“swampy land”).^[3]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /brá.kʰe.a/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈbra.kʰe.a/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβra.çe.a/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈvra.çe.a/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈvra.çe.a/

Noun

βρᾰ́χεᾰ • (brắkheă) n pl (genitive βρᾰχέων); second declension

shallows
- 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.102:
  ἐς θάλασσαν οὐκέτι πλωτὴν ὑπὸ βραχέων.
  es thálassan oukéti plōtḕn hupò brakhéōn.
  at a sea, with too shallow [waters] to be navigable.
  
  2.102.2.@perseus.tufts.edu

Declension

Second declension of τᾰ̀ βρᾰ́χεᾰ; τῶν βρᾰχέων (Attic)

Case / #	Plural
Nominative	τᾰ̀ βρᾰ́χεᾰ tằ brắkheă
Genitive	τῶν βρᾰχέων tôn brăkhéōn
Dative	τοῖς βρᾰχέοις toîs brăkhéois
Accusative	τᾰ̀ βρᾰ́χεᾰ tằ brắkheă
Vocative	βρᾰ́χεᾰ brắkheă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

> Greek: βράχια n pl (vráchia) (inherited) - see βράχος m (vráchos)

References

^
^{The template Template:R:Babiniotis 2010 does not use the parameter(s): head=βράχος
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.}βράχεα - Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας Etymologikó lexikó tis néas ellinikís glóssas [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek language] (in Greek), Athens: Lexicology Centre, page 277
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “βραχύς”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 236: “DER > line 2 > On βράχεα [n.pl.] 'shallows' see βράγος”
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “βράγος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 234