κλεμμύς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The formation is similar to that of synonymous words χέλυς (khélus) and ἐμύς (emús). Originally considered a folk-etymological adaptation to κλέμμα (klémma) and κλέπτω (kléptō, “to conceal”), because turtles can hide their bodies under their shell. Furnée compares κρεμύς (kremús, “a kind of fish”) and χρέμυς (khrémus, “a sort of cod”); these variants confirm that the word is Pre-Greek.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /klem.mýs/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /klemˈmys/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /klemˈmys/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /klemˈmys/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /kleˈmis/

Noun

κλεμμῠ́ς • (klemmŭ́s) f (genitive κλεμμῠ́ος); third declension

tortoise
Synonym: χελώνη (khelṓnē)

Inflection

Third declension of ἡ κλεμμῠ́ς; τῆς κλεμμῠ́ος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κλεμμῠ́ς hē klemmŭ́s	τὼ κλεμμῠ́ε tṑ klemmŭ́e	αἱ κλεμμῠ́ες / κλεμμῦς hai klemmŭ́es / klemmûs
Genitive	τῆς κλεμμῠ́ος tês klemmŭ́os	τοῖν κλεμμῠ́οιν toîn klemmŭ́oin	τῶν κλεμμῠ́ων tôn klemmŭ́ōn
Dative	τῇ κλεμμῠ́ῐ̈ / κλεμμυῖ tēî klemmŭ́ĭ̈ / klemmuî	τοῖν κλεμμῠ́οιν toîn klemmŭ́oin	ταῖς κλεμμῠ́σῐ / κλεμμῠ́σῐν taîs klemmŭ́sĭ(n)
Accusative	τὴν κλεμμῠ́ν tḕn klemmŭ́n	τὼ κλεμμῠ́ε tṑ klemmŭ́e	τᾱ̀ς κλεμμῦς / κλεμμῠ́ᾰς tā̀s klemmûs / klemmŭ́ăs
Vocative	κλεμμῠ́ klemmŭ́	κλεμμῠ́ε klemmŭ́e	κλεμμῠ́ες / κλεμμῦς klemmŭ́es / klemmûs
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Inflection

Further reading