σήρ

See also: Σήρ

Ancient Greek

Uncertain, but possibly ultimately from Old Chinese 絲 (*sə, “silk”).

σήρ • (sḗr) m (genitive σηρός); third declension

silkworm
- 110 CE – 180 CE, Pausanias Periegeta, Graeciae Descriptio 6.26.6:
  ... ἔστιν ἐν τῇ γῇ ζωύφιόν σφισιν, ὃν σῆρα καλοῦσιν Ἕλληνες, ὑπὸ δὲ αὐτῶν Σηρῶν ἄλλο πού τι καὶ οὐ σὴρ ὀνομάζεται.
  ... éstin en tēî gēî zōúphión sphisin, hòn sêra kaloûsin Héllēnes, hupò dè autôn Sērôn állo poú ti kaì ou sḕr onomázetai.
  ... there is in their land a little animal which the Greeks call sêrs, though the Seres themselves give it another name.
silk

Third declension of ὁ σήρ; τοῦ σηρός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ σήρ ho sḗr	τὼ σῆρε tṑ sêre	οἱ σῆρες hoi sêres
Genitive	τοῦ σηρός toû sērós	τοῖν σηροῖν toîn sēroîn	τῶν σηρῶν tôn sērôn
Dative	τῷ σηρῐ́ tōî sērĭ́	τοῖν σηροῖν toîn sēroîn	τοῖς σηρσῐ́ / σηρσῐ́ν toîs sērsĭ́(n)
Accusative	τὸν σῆρᾰ tòn sêră	τὼ σῆρε tṑ sêre	τοὺς σῆρᾰς toùs sêrăs
Vocative	σήρ sḗr	σῆρε sêre	σῆρες sêres
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

“σήρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1901–1906), “σήρ”, in Moschos, Xenofon, transl., Konstantinidis, Michael, editor, Μέγα λεξικόν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς γλώσσης [Méga lexikón tês Hellēnikês glṓssēs, Great Dictionary of the Greek Language] (overall work in Katharevousa), Athens: Anestis Konstantinidis, translation of original in English, with supplement