κουφότης
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
κέπφον
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
kepphos
English translation (word)
stormy petrel
Transliteration (Etymon)
kouphotēs
English translation (etymon)
lightness
Century
2 AD?
Source
Ps-Denys
Ref.
Ixeuticon 2.11
Ed.
A. Garzya, Dionysii Ixeuticon seu de Aucupio libri tres, Leipzig, 1963
Quotation
κέπφον δ' ἕτερον ὄρνεον ἐκ τῆς κουφότητος οἱ ἁλιεῖς ὀνομάζουσιν
Translation (En)
There is an other bird that fishers call kepphos “storm petrel”, from its kouphotēs “lightness”
Other translation(s)
French: Il y a un autre oiseau que les pêcheurs appellent kepphos “petrel tempête”, en raison de sa kouphotēs “légèreté”
Parallels
Aristophanes Gramm., Nomina aetatum 20.1 (Nauck)
Modern etymology
Unclear
Persistence in Modern Greek
The word does not survive in Modern Greek
Entry By
Arnaud Zucker
Comment
This bird could be Hydrobates pelagicus (W.G. Arnott, Bird in the Ancient Word. Fro A to Z, 2007: 134). The etymology relies on the trivial semantic association between bird and lightness, and from the formal point of view, on the alternation e ~ o, the latter here under the form [ou], combined with gemination by which [ph] yields [pph]