Περσεφόνη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• Περρέφαττα (Perrhéphatta) — Plato
• Περσεφόνεια (Persephóneia) — Homeric Hymns
• Περσέφαττα (Perséphatta) — verse
• Προσερπίνα (Proserpína) — Magna Graecia
• Προσερπίνη (Proserpínē) — Magna Graecia
• Φερέπαφα (Pherépapha) — Plato, Cratylus
• Φερσέφαττα (Pherséphatta) — archaic, verse

Etymology

Possibly composed of the Proto-Indo-European elements *pers-o- (“sheaf of corn, grain, seed”, whence also Sanskrit पर्ष (parṣá-) and perhaps Latin porrum) +‎ *gʷʰn̥-t- (“to strike down, slay”, compare φόνος (phónos, “killer”)) +‎ *-eh₂ (a suffix of feminine agent nouns), thus originally meaning “female thresher of corn”. Compare Rigvedic पर्षान् हन्ति (parṣā́n hanti, “to thresh ears of corn”). Alternatively, from Proto-Indo-European *pers-é-bʰ(h₂)n̥t-ih₂ (“she who brings the light through”), akin to Albanian Prenda.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /per.se.pʰó.nɛː/ → /per.seˈɸo.ni/ → /per.seˈfo.ni/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /per.se.pʰó.nɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /per.seˈpʰo.ne̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /per.seˈɸo.ni/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /per.seˈfo.ni/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /per.seˈfo.ni/

Proper noun

Περσεφόνη • (Persephónē) f (genitive Περσεφόνης); first declension

1. Persephone; Proserpina

Inflection

First declension of ἡ Περσεφόνη; τῆς Περσεφόνης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ἡ Περσεφόνη hē Persephónē
Genitive	τῆς Περσεφόνης tês Persephónēs
Dative	τῇ Περσεφόνῃ têi Persephónēi
Accusative	τὴν Περσεφόνην tḕn Persephónēn
Vocative	Περσεφόνη Persephónē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• → Bengali: পার্সিফোন (parśiphōn)
• → Breton: Persefone
• → Bulgarian: Персефона (Persefona)
• → Catalan: Persèfone
• → Coptic: ⲡⲉⲣⲥⲉⲫⲟⲛⲏ (persephonē)
• → Czech: Persefona
• → Danish: Persefone
• → Dutch: Persephone
• → English: Persephone
• → Finnish: Persefone
• → French: Perséphone
• → German: Persephone
• Greek: Περσεφόνη (Persefóni)
• → Hebrew: פרספונה (Persefone)
• → Hindi: पर्सिफ़ोनी (parsifonī)
• → Hungarian: Perszephoné
• → Italian: Persefone
• → Japanese: ペルセポネー (Peruseponē)
• → Korean: 페르세포네 (Pereusepone)
• → Latin: Persephone
• → Lithuanian: Persefonė
• → Luxembourgish: Persephone
• → Norwegian: Persephone
• → Polish: Persefona
• → Portuguese: Perséfone
• → Romanian: Persefona
• → Russian: Персефо́на (Persefóna)
• → Serbo-Croatian: Персефона/Persefona
• → Sicilian: Pirsèfuni
• → Spanish: Perséfone
• → Swedish: Persefone
• → Turkish: Persephone
• → Ukrainian: Персефо́на (Persefóna)

Further reading

• “Περσεφόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Περσεφόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Περσεφόνη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,020

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /perseˈfoni/

Proper noun

Περσεφόνη • (Persefóni) f

1. (Greek mythology) Persephone
2. a female given name