Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• 𐀇𐁇𐀨^? (di-pte-ra)

• (4th AD Koine) IPA^(key): /ðiɸθéra/

• (10th AD Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ðiftéra/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ðiftéɾa/

Noun

διφθέρᾱ • ‎(diphthérā) f ‎(genitive διφθέρᾱς); first declension

1. prepared hide, piece of leather; especially as writing material
   • 60-30 BC, Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, book 2, chapter 32:

     τῶν βασιλικῶν διφθερῶν‎

     tôn basilikôn diphtherôn

     of the [Persian] Royal Archives

   1. anything made of leather
      1. wallet, bag
      2. (plural) skins used as tents
         • 4th century BC, Xenophon, Anabasis, book 1, chapter 5 (Greek, English):

           διφθέρας ἃς εἶχον στεγάσματα ἐπίμπλασαν χόρτου κούφου, εἶτα συνῆγον καὶ συνέσπων, ὡς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι τῆς κάρφης τὸ ὕδωρ‎

           diphthéras hàs eîkhon stegásmata epímplasan khórtou koúphou, eîta sunêgon kaì sunéspōn, hōs mḕ háptesthai tês kárphēs tò húdōr

           they took skins which they had for tent covers, filled them with hay, and then brought the edges together and sewed them up, so that the water could not touch the hay.

Declension

Descendants

• Greek: διφθέρα ‎(difthéra)
• → Aramaic: דפתרא ‎(diphterā)
  • Classical Syriac: ܕܦܬܪܐ ‎(dptrʾ, “hide; account book”)
  • Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: דפתר ‎(dptr, “record book”)
  • → Hebrew: דִּפְתָּר ‎(diftar)
  • → Middle Persian: dptl ‎(daftar, “register, account book”)
    • → Arabic: دَفْتَر ‎(daftar, “register; notebook”)
      • → Indonesian: daftar ‎(“register; list”) (or from Persian)
      • → Georgian: დავთარი ‎(davtari) (or from Persian)
      • → Middle Armenian: տաւթար ‎(tawtʿar), դաւթար ‎(dawtʿar), տֆթար ‎(tftʿar) (or from Persian)
        • Armenian: դավթար ‎(davtʿar)
      • → Persian: دفتر ‎(daftar, “account book; notebook; office”)
        • → Azeri: dəftər
        • → Central Kurdish: دەفتەر ‎(defter)
        • → Bashkir: дәфтәр ‎(däftär)
        • → Kalmyk: девтр ‎(devtr)
        • → Kazakh: дәптер ‎(däpter)
        • → Kyrgyz: дептер ‎(depter)
        • → Mongolian: дэвтэр ‎(devter)
        • → Nogai: тептер ‎(tepter)
        • → Old East Slavic: дефтерь ‎(defterĭ) (via Turkic)
        • → Ottoman Turkish: دفتر ‎(defter)
          • Turkish: defter, (dialectal) tefter
          • → Bulgarian: тефте́р ‎(teftér)
          • → Crimean Tatar: defter
          • → English: defter
          • → Greek: τεφτέρι ‎(teftéri)
          • → Macedonian: тефтер ‎(tefter)
          • → Romanian: tefter
          • → Serbo-Croatian: dȅfter / де̏фтер, tȅfter / те̏фтер
        • → Tibetan: དེབ་ཐེར ‎(deb ther)
        • → Turkmen: depder
        • → Uyghur: دەپتەر ‎(depter)
        • → Uzbek: daftar
    • → Zoroastrian Dari: daptar ‎(“book”)
• → Etruscan:
  • → Latin: littera (see there for further descendants)
    • → English: letter
• → French: diphthérie
  • → English: diphtheria
  • → Galician: difteria
  • → Georgian: დიფთერია ‎(dipteria)
  • → Persian: دیفتری ‎(difteri)
  • → Portuguese: difteria
  • → Spanish: difteria

References

• διφθέρα in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• διφθέρα in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• «διφθέρα» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• «διφθέρα» in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (© 2006–2016)
• «διφθέρα» 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.
  • dressed skin idem, page 252.
  • leather idem, page 483.
  • leather garment idem, page 483.
  • skin idem, page 781.
  • vellum idem, page 946.
• Ferdinand de Saussure (1892), Varia. In: MSL, 7, page 91
• Chantraine, Pierre (1968), “διφθέρα”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (in French), volume I, Paris: Klincksieck, pages 287–288
• Frisk, Hjalmar (1960), “διφθέρα”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 400a
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, pages 320, 341
• Bailey, H. W. (1933), “Western Iranian Dialects”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, volume 32, issue 1, page 50
• Krauss, Samuel (1899) Griechische und lateinische Lehnwörter in Talmud, Midrasch und Targum (in German), volume II, Berlin: S. Calvary, page 211a
• “dptr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daftar-mid