Καύκασος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. Perhaps from Proto-Scythian *xrohukäsi (“ice-shining, white with snow”), from Proto-Indo-European *krews- (“to freeze”), cf crust, Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬎𐬰𐬛𐬭𐬀-‎ (xruzdra-, “hard”).

Or possibly from Middle Persian 𐭪𐭥𐭯 (kof, “hill, mountain”), ultimately from Old Persian 𐎣𐎢𐎳 (kaufa, “mountain”). Compare also Old Armenian Կապկոհ (Kapkoh, “Caucasus”), Middle Persian [script needed] (Kap-kōf, “Caucasus”).

Second element possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kwh₂et- (“to ferment, boil”), cf Latvian kust (“to melt, thaw”). This is more likely to refer to volcanic activity, Mount Elbrus was active as recently as 50 AD. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation
 

Proper noun

Καύκᾰσος • (Kaúkasos) m (genitive Καυκᾰ́σου); second declension

  1. Caucasus

Inflection
Second declension of ὁ Καύκᾰσος; τοῦ Καυκᾰ́σου (Attic)
Case / # Singular
Nominative ὁ Καύκᾰσος
ho Kaúkasos
Genitive τοῦ Καυκᾰ́σου
toû Kaukásou
Dative τῷ Καυκᾰ́σῳ
tôi Kaukásōi
Accusative τὸν Καύκᾰσον
tòn Kaúkason
Vocative Καύκᾰσε
Kaúkase
Notes:
  • This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms
  • Καυκᾰ́σῐον (Kaukásion)

Descendants
  • Greek: Καύκασος (Káfkasos)
  • → Old Armenian: Կովկաս (Kovkas), Կաւկաս (Kawkas)
  • → Estonian: Kaukaasia
  • → Georgian: კავკასია (ḳavḳasia)
  • → Hebrew: קווקז‎ (Kavkáz, Qawqáz)
  • → Latin: Caucasus (see there for further descendants)
  • → Turkish: Kafkasya

References
  • “Καύκασος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “Καύκασος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,005

Greek

Proper noun

Καύκασος • (Káfkasos)

  1. Caucasus

Inflection
  Καύκασος
case     \     number singular
nominative Καύκασος •
genitive Καυκάσου •
accusative Καύκασο •
vocative Καύκασε •

Derived terms
  • Καυκασία (Kafkasía)
  • Καυκάσιος (Kafkásios)
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.