# ξίφος
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* σκῐ́φος (skĭ́phos) — Aeolic

### Etymology

Already in Late Mycenaean Greek (Ta-716 from Pylos), attested in the dual 𐀥𐀯𐀟𐀁 (qi-si-pe-e, “two swords”) (mostly ideographically as 𐃉). Probably of Pre-Greek origin, related to and perhaps borrowed from Egyptian zft (“sword, knife”). If the Greek isn't borrowed directly from the Egyptian, perhaps both are from an Old Semitic saïf or sêf, or from a Libyan or "Sea Peoples" word.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ksí.pʰos/ → /ˈksi.ɸos/ → /ˈksi.fos/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /ksí.pʰos/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈksi.pʰos/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈksi.ɸos/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈksi.fos/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈksi.fos/

### Noun

ξῐ́φος • (xĭ́phos) n (genitive ξῐ́φεος or ξῐ́φους); third declension
* sword, the short, straight, double-edged sword of the Iron Age and Classical Antiquity.
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.194
** the sword-shaped bone of the cuttlefish
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 4.1.21
*** swordfish
**** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Fragments 306
** corn-flag (Gladiolus italicus)
    Synonym: ξίφιον (xíphion)
*** 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 7.13.1

#### Derived terms

* ξιφήρης (xiphḗrēs)
* ξῐφῐ́ᾱς (xĭphĭ́ās)
* ξῐ́φῐον (xĭ́phĭon)
* ξιφισμός (xiphismós)
* ξῐφοδρέπᾰνον (xĭphodrépănon)
* ξῐφοθήκη (xĭphothḗkē)
* ξῐφομᾰ́χαιρᾰ (xĭphomắkhairă)
* ξῐφουργός (xĭphourgós)

#### Descendants

* Greek: ξίφος (xífos)
* Mariupol Greek: пси́фус (psífus)

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ξῐ́φος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1036-7
* ↑ Černý, Jaroslav (1976) Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN
* ↑ Johannes Dümichen, Historische Inschriften altägyptischer Denkmäler vol. 1, Leipzig (1867), 26-27.
* ↑ John Linton Myres, Who were the Greeks?, University of California Press, 1930, p. 590

### Further reading

* “ξίφος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “ξίφος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “ξίφος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* ξίφος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* ξίφος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* “ξίφος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* ξίφος 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. blade idem, page 81.brand idem, page 93.rapier idem, page 672.sword idem, page 849.
* A. Heubeck, 'Mykenisch *qi-si-po- = ξίφος', Minos 6 (1958), 114–116.
* “ξίφος”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

## Greek
### Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ξίφος (xíphos, s-stem).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈksi.fos/

### Noun

ξίφος • (xífos) n
* sword

#### Synonyms

* σπαθί n (spathí)

#### Derived terms

* ξιφασχία f (xifaschía, “fencing”)
* ξιφίας m (xifías, “swordfish”)
* ξιφίδιο n (xifídio, “dagger”)
* ξιφιός m (xifiós, “swordfish”)
* ξιφοθήκη f (xifothíki, “scabbard”)
* ξιφολόγχη f (xifolónchi, “bayonet”)
* ξιφομαχία f (xifomachía, “sword fight”)
* ξιφομάχος m (xifomáchos, “swordsman, fencer”)
* ξιφομαχώ (xifomachó, “to fence, to fight with swords”)
* ξιφουλκώ (xifoulkó, “to draw your sword”)
* ξιφοφόρος m (xifofóros, “swordsman”)

### Further reading

* ξίφος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{el}$
* ξίφος, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language