ἄμμος

See also: άμμος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ᾰ̔́μμος (hámmos)

Etymology

Traditionally considered a contamination of ἄμαθος (ámathos, “sand”) and ψάμμος (psámmos, “sand”). Even if not, likely a loan from some European substrate; said substrate status makes phonetic analysis such as the contamination theory above difficult, as the word likely does not follow traditional Indo-European sound laws.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ám.mos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈam.mos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈam.mos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈam.mos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈa.mos/

Noun

ᾰ̓́μμος • (ámmos) f (genitive ᾰ̓́μμου); second declension

sand
- 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 110A:
  σήραγγες δὲ καὶ ἄμμος καὶ πηλὸς ἀμήχανος καὶ βόρβοροί εἰσιν
  sḗranges dè kaì ámmos kaì pēlòs amḗkhanos kaì bórboroí eisin
sandy ground, a racecourse
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.3.6:
  ἐάν που κινδυνεύειν δέῃ, πότερον ἐπάγειν τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμμον κελεύσεις
  eán pou kinduneúein déēi, póteron epágein toùs polemíous epì tḕn ámmon keleúseis

Inflection

Second declension of ἡ ᾰ̓́μμος; τῆς ᾰ̓́μμου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ᾰ̓́μμος hē ámmos	τὼ ᾰ̓́μμω tṑ ámmō	αἱ ᾰ̓́μμοι hai ámmoi
Genitive	τῆς ᾰ̓́μμου tês ámmou	τοῖν ᾰ̓́μμοιν toîn ámmoin	τῶν ᾰ̓́μμων tôn ámmōn
Dative	τῇ ᾰ̓́μμῳ têi ámmōi	τοῖν ᾰ̓́μμοιν toîn ámmoin	ταῖς ᾰ̓́μμοις taîs ámmois
Accusative	τὴν ᾰ̓́μμον tḕn ámmon	τὼ ᾰ̓́μμω tṑ ámmō	τᾱ̀ς ᾰ̓́μμους tā̀s ámmous
Vocative	ᾰ̓́μμε ámme	ᾰ̓́μμω ámmō	ᾰ̓́μμοι ámmoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Related terms

ψάμμος (psámmos, “sand”)

Descendants

Greek: άμμος

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἄμμος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 89

“ἄμμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ἄμμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
ἄμμος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
ἄμμος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
G285 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- sand idem, page 733.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἄμμος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 89

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