διφθέρα

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 4 August 2018

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. Related to διψάρα (dipsára, “writing-tablet; piece of leather”) and Mycenaean Greek 𐀇𐁇𐀨 (di-pte-ra).

Since de Saussure, connected with δέφω (déphō) or δέψω (dépsō, “to soften (with the hand)”). Beekes argues that this connection and the alternation φ ~ ψ point to a Pre-Greek origin.

Compare also, Old Persian 𐎮𐎡𐎱𐎡 (dipi), Akkadian 𒁾 (ţuppu, “tablet, document, letter”), and Sumerian 𒁾 (dub, “tablet”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /dipʰ.tʰé.raː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /dipʰˈtʰɛ.ra/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ðiɸˈθe.ra/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ðifˈθe.ra/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ðifˈθe.ra/

Noun

διφθέρᾱ • (diphthérā) f (genitive διφθέρᾱς); first declension

prepared hide, piece of leather; especially as writing material
- 60-30 BC, Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, book 2, chapter 32:
  τῶν βασιλικῶν διφθερῶν
  tôn basilikôn diphtherôn
  of the [Persian] Royal Archives
1. anything made of leather
  1. wallet, bag
  2. (plural) skins used as tents
    - 4th century BC, Xenophon, Anabasis, book 1, chapter 5 (Greek, English):
      διφθέρας ἃς εἶχον στεγάσματα ἐπίμπλασαν χόρτου κούφου, εἶτα συνῆγον καὶ συνέσπων, ὡς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι τῆς κάρφης τὸ ὕδωρ
      diphthéras hàs eîkhon stegásmata epímplasan khórtou koúphou, eîta sunêgon kaì sunéspōn, hōs mḕ háptesthai tês kárphēs tò húdōr
      they took skins which they had for tent covers, filled them with hay, and then brought the edges together and sewed them up, so that the water could not touch the hay.

Declension

First declension of ἡ διφθέρᾱ; τῆς διφθέρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ διφθέρᾱ hē diphthérā	τὼ διφθέρᾱ tṑ diphthérā	αἱ διφθέραι hai diphthérai
Genitive	τῆς διφθέρᾱς tês diphthérās	τοῖν διφθέραιν toîn diphthérain	τῶν διφθερῶν tôn diphtherôn
Dative	τῇ διφθέρᾳ têi diphthérāi	τοῖν διφθέραιν toîn diphthérain	ταῖς διφθέραις taîs diphthérais
Accusative	τὴν διφθέρᾱν tḕn diphthérān	τὼ διφθέρᾱ tṑ diphthérā	τᾱ̀ς διφθέρᾱς tā̀s diphthérās
Vocative	διφθέρᾱ diphthérā	διφθέρᾱ diphthérā	διφθέραι diphthérai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Greek: διφθέρα (difthéra)
→ Aramaic:
- Classical Syriac: ܕܦܬܪܐ‎ (dptrʾ, “hide; account book”)
- Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: דפתר‎ (dptr), דפתרא‎ (dptrʾ, “record book”)
- → Hebrew: דִּפְתָּר‎ (diftar)
- → Middle Persian: dptl (daftar, “register, account book”)
  - Persian: دفتر‎ (daftar, “account book; notebook; office”)
    - → Assamese: দপ্তৰ (doptor)
    - → Azerbaijani: dəftər
    - → Central Kurdish: دەفتەر‎ (defter) (or from Arabic)
    - → Kalmyk: девтр (devtr) (via Turkic)
    - → Kazakh: дәптер (däpter)
    - → Kyrgyz: дептер (depter)
    - → Mongolian: дэвтэр (devter)
    - → Nogai: тептер (tepter) (via Turkic)
    - → Old East Slavic: дефтерь (defterĭ) (via Turkic)
    - → Ottoman Turkish: دفتر‎ (defter)
      - Turkish: defter, (dialectal) tefter
      - → Bulgarian: тефте́р (teftér)
      - → Crimean Tatar: defter
      - → English: defter
      - → Greek: τεφτέρι (teftéri)
      - → Macedonian: тефтер (tefter)
      - → Romanian: tefter
      - → Serbo-Croatian: dȅfter / де̏фтер, tȅfter / те̏фтер
    - → Tibetan: དེབ་ཐེར (deb ther)
    - → Turkmen: depder
    - → Uyghur: دەپتەر‎ (depter)
    - → Uzbek: daftar
  - → Arabic: دَفْتَر‎ (daftar, “register; notebook”)
    - → Bashkir: дәфтәр (däftär) (or from Persian)
    - → Indonesian: daftar (“register; list”)
    - → Georgian: დავთარი (davtari) (or from Persian)
    - → Middle Armenian: տաւթար (tawtʿar), դաւթար (dawtʿar), տֆթար (tftʿar) (or from Persian)
      - Armenian: դավթար (davtʿar)
  - → Zoroastrian Dari: daptar‎ (“book”)
→ Etruscan:
- → Latin: littera (see there for further descendants)
  - → English: letter
→ French: diphtérie
- → English: diphtheria
- → Galician: difteria
- → Georgian: დიფთერია (dipteria)
- → Persian: دیفتری‎ (difteri)
- → Portuguese: difteria
- → Spanish: difteria

References

διφθέρα in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
διφθέρα in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
διφθέρα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
διφθέρα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2019)
διφθέρα 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, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- dressed skin idem, page 252.
- leather idem, page 483.
- leather garment idem, page 483.
- skin idem, page 781.
- vellum idem, page 946.
Ferdinand de Saussure (1892), Varia. In: MSL, 7, page 91
Chantraine, Pierre (1968), “διφθέρα”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (in French), volume I, Paris: Klincksieck, pages 287–288
Frisk, Hjalmar (1960), “διφθέρα”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 400a
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, pages 320, 341
Bailey, H. W. (1933), “Western Iranian Dialects”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, volume 32, issue 1, page 50
Krauss, Samuel (1899) Griechische und lateinische Lehnwörter in Talmud, Midrasch und Targum (in German), volume II, Berlin: S. Calvary, page 211a
“dptr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daftar-mid

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