# κόλπος
## Ancient Greek
### Etymology

Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve, arch”), which would also be the source of Proto-Germanic *hwalfą (“vault, arch”), though Greek *πόλπος (*pólpos) would be expected, and the semantics are distant.
Alternatively, if the original meaning was closer to “crevice” and from a verb “to carve, cut, cleave”, compare Proto-Germanic *halbaz (“half”) and Sanskrit कल्प (kálpa, “rule, precept, arrangement”, literally “something cut to shape?”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kolp-, possibly an extension of *(s)kel(H)- (“to cut, slice, chop, carve”). (Can this etymology be sourced?)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kól.pos/ → /ˈkol.pos/ → /ˈkol.pos/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /kól.pos/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈkol.pos/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈkol.pos/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈkol.pos/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈkol.pos/

### Noun

κόλπος • (kólpos) m (genitive κόλπου); second declension (Epic, Attic, Doric, Aeolic, Koine)
* bosom, lap
* a fold in fabric around the bosom
** 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Theocritus, 15 134:λύσασαι δὲ κόμαν καὶ ἐπὶ σφυρὰ κόλπον ἀνεῖσαιlúsasai dè kóman kaì epì sphurà kólpon aneîsai
* any hollow space, pocket
* especially of water, the hollow between waves
* gulf, bay, creek

#### Derived terms

* βᾰθῠ́κολπος (băthŭ́kolpos)
* μελᾰνόκολπος (melănókolpos)
* Σαχαλίτης κόλπος (Sakhalítēs kólpos)

#### Descendants

* → Greek: κόλπος (kólpos) (learned)
* → Latin: colfus, colphus, culfus
** Asturian: golfu
** Catalan: golf
** French: gouffre
** Friulian: golf
** Occitan: gòlf
** Portuguese: golfo
** Sicilian: gurfu
** Spanish: golfo
** Italian: golfo
*** → German: Golf
**** → Czech: golf
*** → Norwegian: golf
*** → Old French: golfe
**** French: golfe
***** → Romanian: golf
***** → Middle English: gulf
****** English: gulf
* → New Latin: colpos, colpus (learned)
* → Azerbaijani: körfəz
* → Ottoman Turkish: كورفز (körfez)
    > Turkish: körfez (inherited)
** → Crimean Tatar: корьфез, körfez
* → Uyghur: كۆرپەز (körpez)
* → Uzbek: koʻrfaz

#### Further reading

* “κόλπος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “κόλπος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “κόλπος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* κόλπος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
* κόλπος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* “κόλπος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G2859 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. bay idem, page 65.bosom idem, page 90.breast idem, page 96.cove idem, page 179.creek idem, page 183.estuary idem, page 284.fold idem, page 332.gulf idem, page 379.inlet idem, page 442.lap idem, page 476.tuck idem, page 900.valley idem, page 943.

### References

* ↑ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Κόλπος”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.
* ↑ Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κόλπος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 740-741

## Greek
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos). Doublet of κόρφος (kórfos).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkol.pos/

### Noun

κόλπος • (kólpos) m (plural κόλποι)
* bosom
* bay, gulf
* (anatomy) vagina
* (anatomy) atrium (of the heart)

#### Synonyms

* (vagina): κολεός m (koleós)

#### Related terms

* κολπίτιδα f (kolpítida, “vaginitis”)