ἀλάβαστος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros)

Etymology

Sethe explained the form as Egyptian ꜥj-r-bꜣstjt (“vessel of the Egyptian goddess Bast”), but this is doubtful. Compare Arabic عُلْبَة (ʕulba, “box, can”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /a.lá.bas.tos/ → /aˈla.βas.tos/ → /aˈla.vas.tos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /a.lá.bas.tos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /aˈla.bas.tos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /aˈla.βas.tos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /aˈla.vas.tos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /aˈla.vas.tos/

Noun

ἀλάβαστος • (alábastos) m (genitive ἀλαβάστου); second declension

1. globular vase without handles for holding perfumes

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ἀλάβαστος; τοῦ ἀλαβάστου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἀλάβαστος ho alábastos	τὼ ἀλαβάστω tṑ alabástō	οἱ ἀλάβαστοι hoi alábastoi
Genitive	τοῦ ἀλαβάστου toû alabástou	τοῖν ἀλαβάστοιν toîn alabástoin	τῶν ἀλαβάστων tôn alabástōn
Dative	τῷ ἀλαβάστῳ tôi alabástōi	τοῖν ἀλαβάστοιν toîn alabástoin	τοῖς ἀλαβάστοις toîs alabástois
Accusative	τὸν ἀλάβαστον tòn alábaston	τὼ ἀλαβάστω tṑ alabástō	τοὺς ἀλαβάστους toùs alabástous
Vocative	ἀλάβαστε alábaste	ἀλαβάστω alabástō	ἀλάβαστοι alábastoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἀλαβάστιον (alabástion)
• ἀλαβαστρίνη (alabastrínē)
• ἀλαβάστρινος (alabástrinos)
• ἀλαβάστριον (alabástrion)
• ἀλαβαστρίτης (alabastrítēs)
• ἀλαβαστροειδής (alabastroeidḗs)
• ἀλαβαστροφόρος (alabastrophóros)
• ἀλαβαστρών (alabastrṓn)

Descendants

• → Latin: alabaster (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “ἀλάβαστος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀλάβαστος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἀλάβαστος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἀλάβαστος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN