ῥαφίς

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ῥαπίς (rhapís) — Doric

Etymology

From ῥάπτω (rháptō, “to sew”) +‎ -ῐ́ς (-ís).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /r̥a.pʰís/ → /raˈɸis/ → /raˈfis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /r̥a.pʰís/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /raˈpʰis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /raˈɸis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /raˈfis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /raˈfis/

Noun

ῥαφῐ́ς • (rhaphís) f (genitive ῥαφῐ́δος); third declension

1. needle

   Synonym: βελόνη (belónē)

2. garfish, sea needle (Belone belone)

Declension

Third declension of ἡ ῥαφῐ́ς; τῆς ῥαφῐ́δος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ῥαφῐ́ς hē rhaphís	τὼ ῥαφῐ́δε tṑ rhaphíde	αἱ ῥαφῐ́δες hai rhaphídes
Genitive	τῆς ῥαφῐ́δος tês rhaphídos	τοῖν ῥαφῐ́δοιν toîn rhaphídoin	τῶν ῥαφῐ́δων tôn rhaphídōn
Dative	τῇ ῥαφῐ́δῐ têi rhaphídi	τοῖν ῥαφῐ́δοιν toîn rhaphídoin	ταῖς ῥαφῐ́σῐ / ῥαφῐ́σῐν taîs rhaphísi(n)
Accusative	τὴν ῥαφῐ́δᾰ tḕn rhaphída	τὼ ῥαφῐ́δε tṑ rhaphíde	τᾱ̀ς ῥαφῐ́δᾰς tā̀s rhaphídas
Vocative	ῥαφῐ́ς rhaphís	ῥαφῐ́δε rhaphíde	ῥαφῐ́δες rhaphídes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Nominative singular -ς (-s) arose by reduction of the original cluster *-ds.

Derived terms

• ῥαφιδᾶς (rhaphidâs)
• ῥαφίδεια (rhaphídeia)
• ῥαφιδεύς (rhaphideús)
• ῥαφιδευτής (rhaphideutḗs)
• ῥαφιδευτός (rhaphideutós)
• ῥαφιδοθήκη (rhaphidothḗkē)
• ῥαφιδοποιός (rhaphidopoiós)

 

Descendants

• English: raphide
• Translingual: Limnoraphis, Raphidiopsis

Further reading

• “ῥαφίς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ῥαφίς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ῥαφίς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette