κύβη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

No known cognates, therefore probably from Pre-Greek. Alternatively from Proto-Indo-European *kewb(ʰ)- (“to bend, bulge; protrusion, hill, bowl”) (cf. Proto-Slavic *kubъ (“bucket”), perhaps also Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos, “hollow in the hips”)), but the presence of *b is suspicious and the semantics are distant.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ký.bɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈky.be̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈcy.βi/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈcy.vi/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈci.vi/

Noun

κῠ́βη • (kúbē) f (indeclinable)

(hapax) head
- Etymologicum Magnum 543.22

Usage notes

Cited as the etymon of κυβιστάω (kubistáō, “tumble head-first”) in the Etymologicum Magnum.

References

“κύβη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
κύβη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
κύβη 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

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