κέρας

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *kérats, probably remodeled from an earlier s-stem *kéras (like κᾰ́ρᾱ (kárā), κᾰ́ρηνον (kárēnon), κρᾱνίον (krāníon)), as preserved in e.g. κερασ-φόρος (keras-phóros, “with a horn”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; front of the skull; horn”); see there for more. An older etymology supposes Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-n̥t-.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ké.ras/ → /ˈce.ras/ → /ˈce.ras/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ké.ras/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈke.ras/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈce.ras/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈce.ras/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈce.ras/

Noun

κέρας • (kéras) n (genitive κέρᾱτος or κέρᾰος or κέρως); third declension

1. horn (of an animal)
2. horn as a material, or anything made of horn, such as a bow.
3. (music) horn (musical instrument)
4. arm or branch of a river
5. the side branch (either left or right) of a military array for battle.

Inflection

κέρᾰς (kéras) was sometimes declined using the stem κέρᾰτ- (kérat-) and sometimes the stem κέρᾰ- (kéra-). Both are shown below.

Third declension of τὸ κέρᾰς; τοῦ κέρᾰτος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κέρᾰς tò kéras	τὼ κέρᾰτε tṑ kérate	τᾰ̀ κέρᾰτᾰ tà kérata
Genitive	τοῦ κέρᾰτος toû kératos	τοῖν κερᾰ́τοιν toîn kerátoin	τῶν κερᾰ́των tôn kerátōn
Dative	τῷ κέρᾰτῐ tôi kérati	τοῖν κερᾰ́τοιν toîn kerátoin	τοῖς κέρᾰσῐ / κέρᾰσῐν toîs kérasi(n)
Accusative	τὸ κέρᾰς tò kéras	τὼ κέρᾰτε tṑ kérate	τᾰ̀ κέρᾰτᾰ tà kérata
Vocative	κέρᾰς kéras	κέρᾰτε kérate	κέρᾰτᾰ kérata
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 *-ts.

Third declension of τὸ κέρᾰς; τοῦ κέρως (contracted, Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κέρᾰς tò kéras	τὼ κέρᾱ tṑ kérā	τᾰ̀ κέρᾱ tà kérā
Genitive	τοῦ κέρως toû kérōs	τοῖν κεροῖν toîn keroîn	τῶν κερῶν tôn kerôn
Dative	τῷ κέραι / κέρᾳ tôi kérai / kérāi	τοῖν κεροῖν toîn keroîn	τοῖς κέρᾰσῐ / κέρᾰσῐν toîs kérasi(n)
Accusative	τὸ κέρᾰς tò kéras	τὼ κέρᾱ tṑ kérā	τᾰ̀ κέρᾱ tà kérā
Vocative	κέρᾰς kéras	κέρᾱ kérā	κέρᾱ kérā
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• αἰγόκερᾰς (aigókeras)
• βούκερᾰς (boúkeras)
• κεράτινος (kerátinos)
• κεράτιον (kerátion)
• μονόκερως (monókerōs)
• ῥινόκερως (rhinókerōs)

 

References

• “κέρας”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κέρας”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “κέρας”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• κέρας 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
• κέρας in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “κέρας”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2768 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• κέρας 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
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • antler idem, page 32.
  • arm idem, page 40.
  • bend idem, page 73.
  • branch idem, page 93.
  • bugle idem, page 103.
  • column idem, page 144.
  • flank idem, page 325.
  • fork idem, page 338.
  • horn idem, page 406.
  • reach idem, page 675.
  • wing idem, page 981.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈce.ɾas/

Noun

κέρας • (kéras) n (plural κέρατα)

1. (anatomy) horn
2. (music) horn (wind instrument)

Declension

Declension of κέρας

	singular	plural
nominative	κέρας •	κέρατα •
genitive	κέρατος •	κεράτων •
accusative	κέρας •	κέρατα •
vocative	κέρας •	κέρατα •

Related terms

• κέρατο n (kérato, “horn”)
• κερατίνη f (keratíni, “keratin”)
• κερατάς m (keratás, “cuckold”)
• κέρας της Αμάλθειας n (kéras tis Amáltheias, “cornucopia, horn of plenty”)

Further reading

• κέρας on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el