ἐλέφας

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unclear. Compare Hittite 𒆷𒄴𒉺𒀸 (laḫpaš, “ivory”).

Possibly related to Proto-Berber *eḷu, Egyptian ꜣbw

(reconstructed as /ˈʀuːbaw/) or Sanskrit इभ (íbha).

Cognate with Mycenaean Greek 𐀁𐀩𐀞 (e-re-pa).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /e.lé.pʰaːs/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /eˈle.pʰas/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /eˈle.ɸas/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /eˈle.fas/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /eˈle.fas/

Noun

ἐλέφᾱς • (eléphās) m (genitive ἐλέφαντος); third declension

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ἐλέφᾱς; τοῦ ἐλέφᾰντος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἐλέφᾱς ho eléphās	τὼ ἐλέφᾰντε tṑ eléphante	οἱ ἐλέφᾰντες hoi eléphantes
Genitive	τοῦ ἐλέφᾰντος toû eléphantos	τοῖν ἐλεφᾰ́ντοιν toîn elephántoin	τῶν ἐλεφᾰ́ντων tôn elephántōn
Dative	τῷ ἐλέφᾰντῐ tôi eléphanti	τοῖν ἐλεφᾰ́ντοιν toîn elephántoin	τοῖς ἐλέφᾱσῐ / ἐλέφᾱσῐν toîs eléphāsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ἐλέφᾰντᾰ tòn eléphanta	τὼ ἐλέφᾰντε tṑ eléphante	τοὺς ἐλέφᾰντᾰς toùs eléphantas
Vocative	ἐλέφᾰν eléphan	ἐλέφᾰντε eléphante	ἐλέφᾰντες eléphantes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἐλεφᾰντᾰ́ρχης (elephantárkhēs)
Ἐλεφαντίνη (Elephantínē)
ἐλεφᾰντομᾰχῐ́ᾱ (elephantomakhíā)

Descendants

Greek: ελέφας (eléfas), ελέφαντας (eléfantas)
→ Old Church Slavonic: е҆лефа́нтъ, е҆лефа́нтесъ
- → Old Ruthenian: елефа́нтъ (elefánt)
- → Russian: элефа́нт (elefánt) (archaic)
→ Latin: elephās, elephāns, elephantus
- Corsican: elefante
- Italian: elefante
  - → Sicilian: lifanti (or inherited from Latin)
- Ladin: elefant
- Ligurian: liofante
- Lombard: elefant
- Navarro-Aragonese:
  - Aragonese: elefant, alifant
- Neapolitan: liufante, alifante
- Old Leonese:
  - Asturian: elefante
  - Mirandese: eilefante
- Old Occitan: elephant
  - Catalan: elefant
  - Occitan: elefant
- Old Galician-Portuguese: helefante, elefante, elifante
  - Galician: elefante
  - Portuguese: elefante, elephante
    - Papiamentu: elefante
- Rhaeto-Romance:
  - Friulian: elefant
  - Romansch: elefant
- Piedmontese: elefant
- Sardinian: elefante, elefanti
- Sicilian: lifanti (or via Italian)
- Vulgar Latin: *olifantus
  - Old French: olifan, elefant, olifant, oliphant
    - Middle French: olifant
      - French: olifant
        → Catalan: olifant
        → Finnish: olifantti
        → Norwegian: olifant
        → Portuguese: olifante
    - Walloon: elefant
    - → Breton: olifant
    - → Middle Dutch: olifant
      - Dutch: olifant
        Afrikaans: olifant
        → Papiamentu: olefante, olifant
    - → Middle English: olifant, olifaunt, oliphant, olyphant (from olifan, olifant form)
      - English: oliphant, olifant, olyfaunte, olyphant, oliphaunt
      - → Cornish: olifans
    - → Middle English: elefant, elefaunt (from elefan, elefant form)
      - English: elephant
        → Hawaiian: ʻelepani
        → Maori: arewhana
        → Tokelauan: elefane
        → Tongan: ʻelefanite
        → Welsh: eliffant
      - Scots: elephant
      - → Manx: elefant
    - → Middle Irish: elifaint
      - Irish: eilifint
      - Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean
    - → Old Spanish: elifant, alefant, eleofant
      - Ladino: איליפ׳אנטי‎ (elefante)
      - Spanish: elefante
        → Basque: elefante
        → Chol: elefanti
        → Cebuano: elepante
        → Hiligaynon: elepante
        → Quechua: ilijanti
        → Tagalog: elepante
        → Waray-Waray: elepante
  - → Gothic: 𐌿𐌻𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (ulbandus) (uncertain; one of several theories)
    - → Proto-Slavic: *velьb(l)ǫdъ (see there for further descendants)
- → Albanian: elefant
- → Proto-Germanic: *ulbanduz (“camel”) (see there for further descendants)
- → Proto-West Germanic: *elpand (“elephant; ivory”) (see there for further descendants)
- → Middle French: elephant
  - French: éléphant
    - Haitian Creole: elefan
    - → Romanian: elefant
  - → Irish: eilifint
  - → Norman: êléphant, éléphant
- → Middle High German: hëlfant
  - Alemannic German: Elifant
  - German: Elefant, Elephant
    - → Lower Sorbian: elefant
    - → Saterland Frisian: Elefant
  - Luxembourgish: Elefant
  - Vilamovian: elefaont
  - Yiddish: העלפֿאַנד‎ (helfand)
- → Chukchi: эʼԓыпын (ėʼḷypyn)
- → Danish: elefant
- → Estonian: elevant
- → Finnish: elefantti
- → Hungarian: elefánt
- → Malagasy: elefanta
- → Maltese: iljunfant
- → Mezquital Otomi: elefante
- → Mukulu: 'elbi ?
- → Northern Sami: elefánta
- → Norwegian: elefant
- → Samoan: 'elefane
- → Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean
- → Upper Sorbian: elefant
- → Swedish: elefant
- → Tagalog: elepante
- → Võro: elevant'
- → West Frisian: oaljefant
- → Latvian: elefants
- → Faroese: elefantur
- → Low German: Elefant
- → Chamorro: elifante
- → Inuktitut: alipa
- → Limburgish: Olifante
- → Tuvaluan: elefane
- → Quechua: eliphanti
- → Latgalian: elefants
- → Silesian: elefant