σῦφαρ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally compared with Latin sūber (“cork oak”), in spite of the semantic difficulties. If correct, they are probably borrowings from a common source, perhaps substrate. According to Pisani, it is related to ὕφεαρ (húphear, “mistletoe”), but formally and semantically this is hardly possible. Beekes argues for a Pre-Greek origin of the word.[1] This is further evidenced by the suffix -αρ (-ar), which can also be seen in the words κύδαρ (kúdar), σκίναρ (skínar), and ἴκταρ (íktar).[2] Note that it is indeclinable as well.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /sŷː.pʰar/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.pʰar/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.ɸar/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.far/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.far/

Noun

σῦφαρ • (sûphar) n (indeclinable)

piece of old or wrinkled skin
wrinkled, decrepit person
slough of a serpent
Synonyms: θώραξ (thṓrax), λεβηρίς (lebērís)
skim of milk, scum
wrinkled fig

References

Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σῦφαρ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1425–1426
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014) Stefan Norbruis, editor, Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 32: “27 -αρ”

“σῦφαρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
σῦφαρ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “sūber, -ris”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 595

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[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σῦφαρ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1425–1426

[2] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014) Stefan Norbruis, editor, Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 32: “27 -αρ”