ἐσσήν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The ending -ήν is found also in βαλλήν (ballḗn, “king”) and κηφήν (kēphḗn, “drone”): this leads Beekes to think of an Anatolian and Pre-Greek origin. The meaning "king-bee" perhaps arose because of a supposed connection with ἑσμός (hesmós, “swarm”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /es.sɛ̌ːn/ → /esˈsin/ → /eˈsin/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /es.sɛ̌ːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /esˈse̝n/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /esˈsin/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /esˈsin/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /eˈsin/

Noun

ἐσσήν • (essḗn) m (genitive ἐσσῆνος); third declension

1. (religion) priest of Artemis of Ephesus
2. king, prince, properly "king-bee"

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ἐσσήν; τοῦ ἐσσῆνος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἐσσήν ho essḗn	τὼ ἐσσῆνε tṑ essêne	οἱ ἐσσῆνες hoi essênes
Genitive	τοῦ ἐσσῆνος toû essênos	τοῖν ἐσσήνοιν toîn essḗnoin	τῶν ἐσσήνων tôn essḗnōn
Dative	τῷ ἐσσῆνῐ tôi essêni	τοῖν ἐσσήνοιν toîn essḗnoin	τοῖς ἐσσῆσῐ / ἐσσῆσῐν toîs essêsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ἐσσῆνᾰ tòn essêna	τὼ ἐσσῆνε tṑ essêne	τοὺς ἐσσῆνᾰς toùs essênas
Vocative	ἐσσήν essḗn	ἐσσῆνε essêne	ἐσσῆνες essênes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἐσσηνεύω (essēneúō)
• ἐσσηνία (essēnía)

 

Further reading

• “ἐσσήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἐσσήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἐσσήν”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 471