Νεῖλος - Stephanos Ethnika

Νεῖλος OCR ✓ Trans ✓ Confirmed ✓

city

Entry #30
Greek source: meineke
Meineke: 471.17 | Billerbeck: Ν30
OCR: gemini-constrained (gemini-3-flash-preview) on 2025-12-30
Word count: 79
AI prompt: v1
Sources: Ἑκαταῖος (Hecataeus) FGrHist 1 F 319 [Περιηγήσει], Ἀπολλώνιος (Apollonius) GG II 3,47,23, Ποσειδώνιος (Poseidonius), Ἑλικώνιος (Heliconius), Ῥόδιος (Rhodian (the Rhodian)), Σάκιος (Sakios)
Entities: Νεῖλος (Neilos (city)) [place], Αἴγυπτος (Egypt) [place], Νειλοπολίτης (Neilopolitan (inhabitant of Neilos)) [people], Νειλαῖος (Neilaîos (adjectival/possessive form from Neilos)) [other]
Etymologies: Morphological Composition: If the city alone is called (Neilos), it ought to follow the possessive adjective of the river — Neilaîos.; Morphological Composition: The ethnikon (demonym) of the city is 'Neilopolites'.; Morphological Composition: Hecataeus in his Periegesis of it: '...and the sanctuary of the river Nile.' (i.e. linking the place to the river Nile); Morphological Composition: For those possessive adjectives which, apart from the iota, either make the genitive of the original or the direct (simple) form of the source, these are produced only by means of an iota; e.g. 'Poseidōnios', 'Helikōnios', 'Rhódios', 'Sákios'.; Morphological Composition: But words that by nature end in a diphthong never produce the foregoing form; for neither 'kēpaîos' nor 'Neilaîos' takes that ethnikon uniformly.
Source: e9783110219630_i1636.jpg
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Νεῖλος, πόλις Αἰγύπτου. Ἑκαταῖος περιηγήσει αὐτῆς “καὶ ἱρὸν Νείλου τοῦ ποταμοῦ”. τὸ ἐθνικὸν τῆς πόλεως Νειλοπολίτης. εἰ δὲ ἡ πόλις μόνη κέκληται, ὀφείλει ἕπεσθαι τῷ κτητικῷ τοῦ ποταμοῦ Νειλαῖος, ὡς Ἀπολλώνιός φησιν. “ὅσα γὰρ τῶν κτητικῶν ἀρ.. τοῦ « ι » ἢ τὴν γενικὴν ποιεῖ τοῦ πρωτοτύπου ἢ τὴν εὐθεῖαν, ταῦτα μόνον διὰ τοῦ « ι » ἐκφέρεται, Ποσειδώνιος Ἑλικώνιος Ῥόδιος Σάκιος. τὰ δὲ φύσει διὰ διφθόγγου παραληγόμενα οὐδέποτε τὸ προκείμενον σχῆμα ἀποτελεῖ. οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ κηπαῖος ἢ Νειλαῖος ἐθνικὸν αὐτὸ ὁμολόγως παραλαμβάνει”.

Neilos: a city of Egypt. Hecataeus, in his *Periegesis* of it: “<***> and a sanctuary of Neilos the river.” The ethnic (gentilic) of the city is *Neilopolites*. But if the city is called simply *Neilos*, it ought to be accompanied by the possessive adjective from the river, *Neilaios*, as Apollonius says (GG II 3, 47.23): “For as many possessive adjectives as, without iota, make either the genitive of the archetype (base-form) or the nominative—these alone are pronounced with iota: *Poseidōnios*, *Helikōnios*, *Rhōdios*, *Sakios*. But those whose penult is by nature with a diphthong never produce the aforesaid formation; for neither *kēpaios* nor *Neilaios* admits an ethnic (gentilic) in accordance with it.”

Herodian overlaps

Stephanos excerpt (left) is aligned with matched Herodian passages (right). Colors indicate corresponding overlap spans.

Herodian 1.155

char LCS 55 (13.1%) · word LCS 9 (11.4%)

Stephanos

Νεῖλος, πόλις Αἰγύπτου. Ἑκαταῖος περιηγήσει αὐτῆς “καὶ ἱρὸν Νείλου τοῦ ποταμοῦ”. τὸ ἐθνικὸν τῆς πόλεως Νειλοπολίτης. εἰ δὲ ἡ πόλις μόνη κέκληται, ὀφείλει ἕπεσθαι τῷ κτητικῷ τοῦ ποταμοῦ Νειλαῖος, ὡς Ἀπολλώνιός φησιν. “ὅσα γὰρ τῶν κτητικῶν ἀρ.. τοῦ « ι » ἢ τὴν γενικὴν ποιεῖ τοῦ πρωτοτύπου ἢ τὴν εὐθε…

Herodian

δὲ κατὰ πάθος. καὶ τὸ Νεῖλος βαρύνεται. ἔστι δὲ ποταμὸς Αἰγύπτου. Ἑκαταῖος περιηγήσει αὐτῆς «καὶ ἱρὸν Νείλου τοῦ ποταμοῦ». λέγεται δὲ κατὰ διάλεκτον Νῆλος. καὶ τὸ δειλός ὀξύνεται. Τὰ εἰς 'λος' δισύλλαβα κύρια τῷ 'η' παραληγόμενα περισπᾶται, οἷον Μῆλος Μαντοῦς υἱός, ἀφ´ οὗ Μαλόεις τόπος ἐν Λέσβῳ, ὡς Ἑλλάνικος ἐν Λεσβιακῶν πρώτῳ καὶ Μῆλος μ…