σκεῦος

See also: σκεύος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Of uncertain origin. Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kew- (“to perform, commit or to cut, hew, equip”), and compared with Proto-Germanic *hawjaną (“to carry out, perform”) and Proto-Slavic *kutiti (“to devise, whirl”). Other theories which derive the word from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewH- (“to push”), comparing to Lithuanian šáuti (“to shoot, shove”) and Proto-Slavic *sovati (“to shove”), are semantically unconvincing.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /skêu̯.os/ → /ˈsce.βos/ → /ˈsce.vos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /skêu̯.os/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈske.wos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsce.βos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsce.vos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsce.vos/

Noun

σκεῦος • (skeûos) n (genitive σκεύους); third declension

1. a vessel, implement
   • 411 BCE, Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 402
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.128
   • 424 BCE, Aristophanes, The Knights 983
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 596B
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 373A
   1. (in the plural) outfit, gear, utensils, chattels, equipment, baggage, luggage, tackle
      • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 1318
      • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Property of Aristophanes 31
      • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 552
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.13
      • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 9.17.3
      • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, On Stones 42
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.31
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 4.5.55
      • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 12.15
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.13.6
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 5.4.17
      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Critias 117D
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laches 183E
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Oeconomicus 8.11
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians 46.1
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Evergus and Mnesibulus 19
      • New Testament, Acts of the Apostles 27:17
   2. an inanimate object, a thing
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 601D
      • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 506D
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Democritus, Collected Works 159
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Rhetoric 1407B.8
      • 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 13.5.7
      • 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 15.25.1
      • New Testament, Acts of the Apostles 9:15
2. the body, as the vessel of the soul
   • 55 CE – 56 CE, Paul the Apostle, Second Epistle to the Corinthians 4:7
   • New Testament, First Epistle to the Thessalonians 4:4
   • New Testament, First Epistle of Peter 3:7
3. genitalia
   • 175 CE – 235 CE, Claudius Aelianus, On the Nature of Animals 17.11

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ σκεῦος; τοῦ σκεύους (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ σκεῦος tò skeûos	τὼ σκεύει tṑ skeúei	τᾰ̀ σκεύη tà skeúē
Genitive	τοῦ σκεύους toû skeúous	τοῖν σκευοῖν toîn skeuoîn	τῶν σκευῶν tôn skeuôn
Dative	τῷ σκεύει tôi skeúei	τοῖν σκευοῖν toîn skeuoîn	τοῖς σκεύεσῐ / σκεύεσῐν toîs skeúesi(n)
Accusative	τὸ σκεῦος tò skeûos	τὼ σκεύει tṑ skeúei	τᾰ̀ σκεύη tà skeúē
Vocative	σκεῦος skeûos	σκεύει skeúei	σκεύη skeúē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• σκευαγωγός (skeuagōgós)
• σκευάζω (skeuázō)
• σκευάριον (skeuárion)
• σκευόφορος (skeuóphoros)
• σκευοφύλαξ (skeuophúlax)
• σκευογραφία (skeuographía)
• σκευοποιός (skeuopoiós)
• σκευοπώλης (skeuopṓlēs)
• σκευοθήκη (skeuothḗkē)
• σκευουργία (skeuourgía)
• σκευωρός (skeuōrós)

Related terms

• σκευή (skeuḗ)

Descendants

• → Gothic: 𐌺𐌰𐍃 (kas) (semantic loan)

Further reading

• “σκεῦος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σκεῦος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• G4632 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.
  • art idem, page 42.
  • article idem, page 42.
  • commodity idem, page 148.
  • implement idem, page 421.
  • thing idem, page 867.
  • utensil idem, page 941.
  • work idem, page 988.