ἑρπετόν

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ὄρπετον (órpeton) (Aeolic)

Etymology

Substantivized verbal adjective of ἕρπω (hérpō). Compare Sanskrit सर्प (sarpá, “snake, serpent”), Latin serpēns.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /her.pe.tón/ → /er.peˈton/ → /er.peˈton/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /her.pe.tón/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /(h)er.peˈton/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /er.peˈton/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /er.peˈton/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /er.peˈton/

Noun

ἑρπετόν • (herpetón) n (genitive ἑρπετοῦ); second declension

1. Any animal which walks on four legs.
2. creeping animal, reptile, especially a snake
3. living being

Usage notes

• Along with ᾠόν (ōión), λουτρόν (loutrón), πτερόν (pterón) and ζυγόν (zugón), this is one of the very few neuter nouns that does not have a recessive accent.

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ ἑρπετόν; τοῦ ἑρπετοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ἑρπετόν tò herpetón	τὼ ἑρπετώ tṑ herpetṓ	τᾰ̀ ἑρπετᾰ́ tà herpetá
Genitive	τοῦ ἑρπετοῦ toû herpetoû	τοῖν ἑρπετοῖν toîn herpetoîn	τῶν ἑρπετῶν tôn herpetôn
Dative	τῷ ἑρπετῷ tôi herpetôi	τοῖν ἑρπετοῖν toîn herpetoîn	τοῖς ἑρπετοῖς toîs herpetoîs
Accusative	τὸ ἑρπετόν tò herpetón	τὼ ἑρπετώ tṑ herpetṓ	τᾰ̀ ἑρπετᾰ́ tà herpetá
Vocative	ἑρπετόν herpetón	ἑρπετώ herpetṓ	ἑρπετᾰ́ herpetá
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Related terms

• ἕρπω (hérpō)

Descendants

• English: herpet-
• Greek: ερπετό (erpetó)

Further reading

• “ἑρπετόν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἑρπετόν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἑρπετόν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἑρπετόν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• “ἑρπετόν”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2062 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • insect idem, page 444.
  • reptile idem, page 699.
  • serpent idem, page 755.
  • snake idem, page 788.
  • vermin idem, page 948.
  • worm idem, page 990.