κίστη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Of unknown substrate origin, traced back to Proto-Indo-European *kisteh₂ (“woven container”) only with Middle Irish cess (“basket, causeway of wickerwork, beehive”), Old Welsh cest (“basket”). Bernal suggests, with formal problems as usual, borrowing from Egyptian qrsw (“coffin”) or qrst (“burial”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kís.tɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkis.te̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈcis.ti/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈcis.ti/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈcis.ti/

Noun

κῐ́στη • (kístē) f (genitive κῐ́στης); first declension

box, chest, casket

Inflection

First declension of ἡ κῐ́στη; τῆς κῐ́στης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κῐ́στη hē kístē	τὼ κῐ́στᾱ tṑ kístā	αἱ κῐ́σται hai kístai
Genitive	τῆς κῐ́στης tês kístēs	τοῖν κῐ́σταιν toîn kístain	τῶν κῐστῶν tôn kistôn
Dative	τῇ κῐ́στῃ têi kístēi	τοῖν κῐ́σταιν toîn kístain	ταῖς κῐ́σταις taîs kístais
Accusative	τὴν κῐ́στην tḕn kístēn	τὼ κῐ́στᾱ tṑ kístā	τᾱ̀ς κῐ́στᾱς tā̀s kístās
Vocative	κῐ́στη kístē	κῐ́στᾱ kístā	κῐ́σται kístai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

→ Latin: cista
- Asturian: cesta
- → English: cist (learned)
- French: ciste
- Galician: cesta
- Italian: cesta; → cista (learned)
- Portuguese: cesta → cista (learned)
- Romansch: cesta, chaista, chista
- Spanish: cesta
- → Proto-West Germanic: *kistu (see there for further descendants)
  - English: chest

References

“κίστη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“κίστη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“κίστη”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
κίστη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
κίστη in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κίστη”, 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, page 705
Bernal, Martin (2006) Black Athena. Volume III. The Linguistic Evidence, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, page 447