ἀρτάβη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ἀρτέβη (artébē)
ἀρταβάς (artabás) — Byzantine

Etymology

The word is of Iranian origin (see Old North Iranian *ṛdba-, Old Persian *ṛdva-^[1]) and ultimately from Akkadian 𒅈𒁕𒁉 (/⁠ardabu⁠/, “capacity measure of about 56 litres”), found as Aramaic 𐡀𐡓𐡃𐡁 (ʾrdb) / אַרְדְּבָא (ʾardəḇā) / ܐܪܕܒܐ (ʾardəḇā), (Classical Syriac also ܐܪܛܒܐ (ʾarṭəḇā)), Arabic إِرْدَبّ (ʔirdabb), Coptic ⲉⲣⲧⲟⲃ (ertob), ⲁⲣⲧⲁⲃ (artab), and Old Armenian արդու (ardu) (whence Old Georgian არდუჲ (arduy)).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ar.tá.bɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /arˈta.be̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /arˈta.βi/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /arˈta.vi/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /arˈta.vi/

Noun

ἀρτάβη • (artábē) f (genitive ἀρτάβης); first declension

Persian measure of capacity, equivalent to 1 medimnus + 3 choenices
Egyptian measure of capacity, varying from 24 to 42 choenices
- Rosetta Stone:
  ἀπἔλυσεν δέ τά ἱερά καί τῆς λογιζομένης τῆς ἀρτάβης τῇ ἀρούρᾳ τῆς ἱερᾶς γῆς
  apélusen dé tá hierá kaí tês logizoménēs tês artábēs tēî aroúrāi tês hierâs gês
  he also released the temples of the ardeb-per-arura tax on sacred land

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ἀρτάβη; τῆς ἀρτάβης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἀρτάβη hē artábē	τὼ ἀρτάβᾱ tṑ artábā	αἱ ἀρτάβαι hai artábai
Genitive	τῆς ἀρτάβης tês artábēs	τοῖν ἀρτάβαιν toîn artábain	τῶν ἀρταβῶν tôn artabôn
Dative	τῇ ἀρτάβῃ tēî artábēi	τοῖν ἀρτάβαιν toîn artábain	ταῖς ἀρτάβαις taîs artábais
Accusative	τὴν ἀρτάβην tḕn artábēn	τὼ ἀρτάβᾱ tṑ artábā	τᾱ̀ς ἀρτάβᾱς tā̀s artábās
Vocative	ἀρτάβη artábē	ἀρτάβᾱ artábā	ἀρτάβαι artábai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἀρταβία (artabía)
ἀρταβίειος (artabíeios)

Descendants

→ Ge'ez: አርጣባስ (ʾärṭabas), አርጣቦስ (ʾärṭabos), አርጢባስ (ʾärṭibas)
→ Latin: artaba
→ Old Armenian: արտաբ (artab), արտափ (artapʻ), արտաբոս (artabos)
- → Old Georgian: არტაბი (arṭabi)
→⇒ Middle Georgian: არტავარი (arṭavari), არტავასი (arṭavasi)

References

^ Tavernier, Jan (2007), Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550–330 B.C.): Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts, Peeters Publishers, →ISBN, page 449

“ἀρτάβη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
ἀρτάβη in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
ἀρτάβη in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
Leslau, Wolf (1987), Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, reprinted 1991, 1997 and 2006, page 37
Sethe, Kurt (1916), “Spuren der Perserherrschaft in der späteren ägyptischen Sprache”, in Nachrichten der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse (in German), Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, pages 112–118

[1] Tavernier, Jan (2007), Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550–330 B.C.): Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts, Peeters Publishers, →ISBN, page 449

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