Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• κλαΐς ‎(klaḯs) (Doric)
• κλᾶϊς ‎(klâïs) (Aeolic)
• κληΐς ‎(klēḯs) (Ionic)
• κλῄς ‎(klḗis) (Attic)

Noun

κλείς • ‎(kleís) f ‎(genitive κλειδός); third declension

1. Something used to lock/unlock: key, bolt, bar
2. A means to something: key
3. The hook of a clasp
4. collarbone
5. The rowing bench of a ship (always in plural)
6. A narrow strait or pass

Inflection

Usage notes

There also exist the contracted forms κλεῖν (accusative singular) & κλεῖς (nominative & accusative plural).

Descendants

• Greek: κλειδί ‎(kleidí)
• > Aramaic:
  • Classical Syriac: ܩܠܝܕܐ ‎(qəlīḏāʾ)
  • Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַקְלִידָא ‎(ʾaqlīḏāʾ)
  • > Arabic: إِقْلِيد ‎(ʾiqlīd)
• > Hebrew: קְלִיד ‎(qəlîḏ)
• > Persian: کلید ‎(kelid)
  • Tajik: калид ‎(kalid)
  • > Kurdish: kilîd
  • > Turkish: kilit
  • > Uzbek: kalit

References

• κλείς in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• κλείς in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• «κλείς» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• “G2807”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • collar-bone idem, page 143.