σπορά

Ancient Greek

Etymology

By surface analysis, σπείρω (speírō, “to sow, to scatter”) +‎ -η (-ē, verbal noun suffix). Alternatively, the term may derive from Proto-Indo-European *spor-eh₂, which may also be the source of Albanian farë. Regardless, ultimately from the root *sper- (“to strew”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /spo.rǎː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /spoˈra/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /spoˈra/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /spoˈra/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /spoˈra/

Noun

σπορᾱ́ • (sporā́) f (genitive σπορᾶς); first declension

seed

Declension

First declension of ἡ σπορᾱ́; τῆς σπορᾶς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ σπορᾱ́ hē sporā́	τὼ σπορᾱ́ tṑ sporā́	αἱ σποραί hai sporaí
Genitive	τῆς σπορᾶς tês sporâs	τοῖν σποραῖν toîn sporaîn	τῶν σπορῶν tôn sporôn
Dative	τῇ σπορᾷ tēî sporāî	τοῖν σποραῖν toîn sporaîn	ταῖς σποραῖς taîs sporaîs
Accusative	τὴν σπορᾱ́ν tḕn sporā́n	τὼ σπορᾱ́ tṑ sporā́	τᾱ̀ς σπορᾱ́ς tā̀s sporā́s
Vocative	σπορᾱ́ sporā́	σπορᾱ́ sporā́	σποραί sporaí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

σποράς (sporás)

Descendants

→ Latin: spora
- Catalan: espora
- → Czech: spora
- → Dutch: spoor (see there for further descendants)
- → English: spore
  - → Thai: สปอร์ (sà-bpɔɔ)
- French: spore
  - → Persian: اسپور (espor)
  - → Turkish: spor
- → German: Spore
- → Hungarian: spóra
- → Irish: spór
- Italian: spora
- → Norwegian Bokmål: spore
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: spore
- → Polish: spora
- Portuguese: esporo
- Romanian: spor
- → Slovene: spora
- Spanish: espora
- → Swedish: spor
→ Russian: спо́ра (spóra)
→ Ukrainian: спо́ра (spóra)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “σπείρω (> DER > With an o-grade > σπορά)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1379

“σπορά”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“σπορά”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“σπορά”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
σπορά in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- begetting idem, page 70.
- birth idem, page 79.
- breeding idem, page 97.
- child idem, page 129.
- descendant idem, page 214.
- descent idem, page 214.
- generation idem, page 356.
- lineage idem, page 493.
- offspring idem, page 571.
- origin idem, page 579.
- parentage idem, page 592.
- procreation idem, page 644.
- progeny idem, page 653.
- propagation idem, page 653.
- race idem, page 667.
- seed idem, page 749.
- seed-time idem, page 749.
- son idem, page 793.
- sowing idem, page 797.
- spawn idem, page 798.
- stock idem, page 818.
Kroonen, Guus; Jakob, Anthony; Palmér, Axel; van Sluis, Paulus; Wigman, Andrew (12 October 2022), “Indo-European cereal terminology suggests a Northwest Pontic homeland for the core Indo-European languages”, in Wichmann, Søren, editor, PLoS ONE‎^[2], volume 17, number 10, →DOI, page 26 of 45
σπορά, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “σπείρω (> DER > With an o-grade > σπορά)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1379

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