κερασός

See also: κέρασος

Ancient Greek

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Bird cherry

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Alternative forms

κέρᾰσος (kérasos)

Etymology

A loanword of uncertain origin, either Anatolian or Pre-Greek based on the intervocalic -σ-.^[1]

Comparison with Akkadian 𒅗𒅈𒋗 (/⁠karšu⁠/, “a plant, likely a leek”) is rejected by Rosół and Blažek.

Blažek argues that the ultimate source of the word may well be Semitic, e. g. Akkadian 𒄑𒈢𒆳𒊏 (/⁠kamiššaru, kamaššaru, kameššaru⁠/, “pear-tree”) or Classical Syriac ܟܘܡܬܪܐ (kummaṯrā, “pear”), compare the Aramaic borrowing Arabic كُمَّثْرَى (kummaṯrā, “pear”), where it has to be known that Prunus and Pyrus species can be denoted by the same word, for example إِجَّاص (ʔijjāṣ, “pear; plum”) and Old Armenian տանձ (tanj, “pear”) with Classical Syriac ܬܰܢ̈ܓܳܝܳܬܳܐ f pl (tangāyāṯā, “mahaleb cherry”). He argues that assimilation *-mš- > *-š- is attested in several NW Semitic languages of the 2nd millennium BC, and hypothesizes that metathesis *k-(m)š-r- > *k-r-(m)š- might have happened either in an unidentified mediator language or a Semitic donor or (less probably so) in Greek itself. The change *t > š, necessary for the change of Classical Syriac ܟܘܡܬܪܐ (kummaṯrā) to the Greek word, is to be found in Phoenician and early Aramaic.

Blažek also notes that the related cultural term seems to be widespread in Caucasian languages; compare (not to list over a dozen lemmata) Lak ккурмуз (k:urmuz, “(wild) cherry plum”) and Dargwa гимиргьи (gimirhi, “quince”), reconstructed protoform Proto-Northeast Caucasian *ḵurmäśV / *ḵurmäʒ́V (“some kind of fruit”), and possibly Proto-Northwest Caucasian *mǝrǝgʷǝźʷǝ (“some sort of plum or peach”) with metathesis, attested in some Abkhaz compound words.^[2]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ke.ra.sós/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ke.raˈsos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ce.raˈsos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ce.raˈsos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ce.raˈsos/

Noun

κερᾰσός • (kerasós) m (genitive κερᾰσοῦ); second declension

bird cherry, Prunus avium (tree)

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ κερᾰσός; τοῦ κερᾰσοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κερᾰσός ho kerasós	τὼ κερᾰσώ tṑ kerasṓ	οἱ κερᾰσοί hoi kerasoí
Genitive	τοῦ κερᾰσοῦ toû kerasoû	τοῖν κερᾰσοῖν toîn kerasoîn	τῶν κερᾰσῶν tôn kerasôn
Dative	τῷ κερᾰσῷ tôi kerasôi	τοῖν κερᾰσοῖν toîn kerasoîn	τοῖς κερᾰσοῖς toîs kerasoîs
Accusative	τὸν κερᾰσόν tòn kerasón	τὼ κερᾰσώ tṑ kerasṓ	τοὺς κερᾰσούς toùs kerasoús
Vocative	κερᾰσέ kerasé	κερᾰσώ kerasṓ	κερᾰσοί kerasoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

κεράσιον (kerásion)
Κερασοῦς (Kerasoûs)

Descendants

(from the Ancient Greek variant κεράσιον (kerásion)) Greek: κεράσι (kerási)
- → Ottoman Turkish: كراس (kiras), كراز (kiraz), كیراز (kiraz), كرس (kires)
  - Turkish: kiraz
  - → Armenian: քիրազ (kʻiraz)
  - → Crimean Tatar: kiraz
  - → Azerbaijani: gilas
→ Albanian: qershi
→ Arabic: قَرَاسِيَا (qarāsiyā), قَرَاصِيَا (qarāṣiyā), قَارَاسِيَا (qārāsiyā), جَرَاسِيَا (jarāsiyā), شَرَاسِيَا (šarāsiyā) — obsolete (from the Ancient Greek variant κεράσιον (kerásion))
→ Aramaic: (from the Ancient Greek variant κεράσιον (kerásion))
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: קׅירְסֵי (qirəsē)

Classical Syriac: ܩܪܣܝܐ (qerrassiyā)
→ Latin: cerasus
- ⇒ Latin: cerasum
  - ⇒ Latin: cerasium (or from the Ancient Greek variant κεράσιον (kerásion))
    - ⇒ Latin: ceresium
      - ⇒ Latin: ceresia (see there for further descendants)
→ Middle Armenian: կեռաս (keṙas), կերաս (keras)
- Armenian: կեռաս (keṙas)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κέρασος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 677
^ Blažek, Václav (2014) “Etymologizing ‘unetymologizable’ Greek dendronyms”, in Graeco-Latina Brunensia‎^[1], volume 19, number 1, pages 44–45