κεράτιον

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 19 April 2015

Etymology

From κέρᾰς (kéras, “horn”) +‎ -ῐον (-ion, diminutive suffix). The sense of “carob“ stems from a Semitic loan and later mingled with the “hornlet” word, compare Arabic قَرَظ (qaraẓ, “acacia”), Classical Syriac ܩܸܪܲܛܵܐ (qerraṭṭā, “acacia; carob”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ke.rǎː.ti.on/ → /ceˈra.ti.on/ → /ceˈra.ti.on/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ke.rǎː.ti.on/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /keˈra.ti.on/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ceˈra.ti.on/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ceˈra.ti.on/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ceˈra.ti.on/

Noun

κερᾱ́τῐον • (kerā́tion) n (genitive κερᾱτῐ́ου); second declension

1. small horn
   1. (zoology) antenna of the cerambycid or of the hermit crab
   2. (in the plural) curved ends of the womb
   3. (music) a musical instrument (perhaps a fife or clarionet)
2. carat, ¹⁄₁₇₂₈ of a pound (clarification of this definition is needed)
3. a Byzantine coin of a certain value (clarification of this definition is needed)
4. Alternative form of κερατωνία (keratōnía)
5. fruit of the carob

Declension

Second declension of τὸ κερᾱ́τῐον; τοῦ κερᾱτῐ́ου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κερᾱ́τῐον tò kerā́tion	τὼ κερᾱτῐ́ω tṑ kerātíō	τᾰ̀ κερᾱ́τῐᾰ tà kerā́tia
Genitive	τοῦ κερᾱτῐ́ου toû kerātíou	τοῖν κερᾱτῐ́οιν toîn kerātíoin	τῶν κερᾱτῐ́ων tôn kerātíōn
Dative	τῷ κερᾱτῐ́ῳ tôi kerātíōi	τοῖν κερᾱτῐ́οιν toîn kerātíoin	τοῖς κερᾱτῐ́οις toîs kerātíois
Accusative	τὸ κερᾱ́τῐον tò kerā́tion	τὼ κερᾱτῐ́ω tṑ kerātíō	τᾰ̀ κερᾱ́τῐᾰ tà kerā́tia
Vocative	κερᾱ́τῐον kerā́tion	κερᾱτῐ́ω kerātíō	κερᾱ́τῐᾰ kerā́tia
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Synonyms

• (carob, Ceratonia siliqua): κερᾱτωνῐ́ᾱ (kerātōníā), κερωνῐ́ᾱ (kerōníā), κερᾱτέᾱ (kerātéā), κερᾱτῐ́ᾱ (kerātíā)
• (carob fruit): κερᾱ́τῐᾰ (kerā́tia)

Descendants

• → Arabic: قِيرَاط (qīrāṭ)
  • → Amharic: ቂራጥ (ḳiraṭ)
  • → English: kirat
  • → Galician: quilate
  • → Ge'ez: ቂራጥ (ḳiraṭ)
  • → Italian: carato
  • → Middle French: carat
    • → English: carat
  • → Portuguese: quilate
  • → Spanish: quilate (see there for further descendants)
  • → Sicilian: caratu
• → Aramaic:

  Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: קרט

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: קִירָטָא (qīrāṭā)

  Classical Syriac: ܩܱܪܛܳܐ (qarṭā)

• → Hebrew: קָרָט (qārāṭ)
• (4) → Coptic: ϭⲁⲣⲁⲧⲉ (carate) (Sahidic)
• → Latin: cerātium

References

• “κεράτιον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κεράτιον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κεράτιον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• G2769 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• κεράτιον in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 200–201