Κρήτη - Stephanos Ethnika

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Κρήτη OCR ✓ Trans ✓ Confirmed ✓

island

Κρήτη, ἡ μεγίστη νῆσος, ἣν Κρεήτην ἔφη Ἀρχίλοχος κατὰ πλεονασμόν. οἱ μέν φασιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κουρής Κουρήτην καὶ Κρήτην κατὰ συγκοπήν, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Κρητὸς τοῦ Διὸς καὶ Ἰδαίας νύμφης παιδός, οἱ δ´ ἀπὸ Κρήτης μιᾶς τῶν Ἑσπερίδων, οἱ δὲ ἀπό τινος γηγενοῦς Κρητός. ἄμεινον δὲ παρὰ τὸ Κρής Κρητός Κρήτη, ὡς Θρᾴκη καὶ Χιτώνη καὶ εὐφρόνη. λέγεται καὶ ποιητικῶς Κρῆται. λέγεται καὶ Κρής Κρητός καὶ Κρῆσσα· καὶ Κρηταῖος καὶ θηλυκῶς καὶ οὐδετέρως· καὶ Κρητεύς καὶ Κρητῆος καὶ Κρητήιος κτητικόν· καὶ θηλυκὸν Κρητηιάς. καὶ Κρηταιεύς καὶ Κρήσιος ἀπὸ τοῦ Κρής, καὶ Κρησιάς θηλυκὸν καὶ Κρησία καὶ Κρήσιον. καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Κρητός γενικῆς Κρῆτις, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ « τ » εἰς « σ » Κρησίς. καὶ τὸ κτητικὸν Κρητικός. καλεῖται δὲ ἡ νῆσος καὶ Ἀερία καὶ Χθονία καὶ Ἰδαία.

Krete: the largest island, which Archilochos called Kreete by pleonasm. Some say from Koures, Kourete and Krete by syncope; others from Kretos, child of Zeus and the Idaian nymph; others from Krete, one of the Hesperides; others from some earthborn Kretos. Better, though, is Krete from Kres Kretos, as in 'Thraike' and 'Chitone' and 'euphrone'. It is also said poetically 'Kretai'. One also says 'Kres' and 'Kressa'; also 'Kretaios' in the feminine and in the neuter; also 'Kreteus' and the possessive 'Kreteos' and 'Kreteios', and in the feminine 'Kreteias'. Also 'Kretaieus' and 'Kresios' from 'Kres', and in the feminine 'Kresias', and 'Kresia' and 'Kresion'. Also from the genitive 'Kretos' comes 'Kretis', and by changing τ to σ, 'Kresis'. Also the possessive 'Kretikos'. The island is also called Aeria and Chthonia and Idaia.

Text Details

Entry	#217
Greek text	meineke
Edition ids	Meineke 383.21 · Billerbeck Κ217
OCR	gemini-constrained (gemini-3-flash-preview) on 2025-12-21
Word count	123
AI translation	legacy_scholarly v2 · gpt-5.2

Cited Authors

Author	Work / Citation
Ἀρχίλοχος (Archilochus)	fr. 271 West²

Mentioned Entities

Entity	Details
Κρήτη	Crete · place
Κουρής	Kouris · person
Ζεύς	Zeus · deity
Ἰδαία	Idaia (Idaea) · deity
Ἑσπερίδες	Hesperides · deity
Κρητός	Kretos · person
Θρᾴκη	Thrace · place
Χιτώνη	Chitone · person
Εὐφρόνη	Euphrone · person
Κρῆται	Cretans · people
Κρής	Kres · person
Κρῆτις	Kretis · person
Κρῆσσα	Kressa · person
Ἀερία	Aeria · place
Χθονία	Chthonia · place
Ἰδαία	Idaea · place

Etymologies

Category	Explanation
Eponym Person	Some say (the name comes) from the Kourēs: 'Kourētēn' and 'Krētēn' by syncope.
Morphological Composition	Formation by syncope (loss of a vowel/consonant) producing the form Κρήτην/Κρήτην.
Eponym Person	Others (derive the name) from Cretos, the son of Zeus and the Idaean nymph.
Eponym Person	Others (derive it) from Crete, one of the Hesperides.
Eponym Person	Others (derive it) from some native-born man named Cretos.
Morphological Composition	(The form) Κρήτη is preferable to Κρῆς/Κρητός, as with Θράκη, Χιτώνη, and Εὐφρόνη (discussion of preferred morphological form).
Morphological Composition	Also Κρηταιεύς and Κρήσιος (are formed) from Κρῆς (derivation of adjectival forms from the base name).
Morphological Composition	From the genitive Κρητός comes the form Κρήτις, and by the change of τ into σ the form Κρησίς (explanation of morphological alternation).

Links

Place links	Ancient Crete \| 📍 Map \| Pleiades
Page scans	e9783110219630_i0655.jpg
Review	Open review page

Herodian overlaps

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

Herodian 1.342

char LCS 132 (22.8%) · word LCS 28 (22.6%)

Stephanos

Κρήτη, ἡ μεγίστη νῆσος, ἣν Κρεήτην ἔφη Ἀρχίλοχος κατὰ πλεονασμόν. οἱ μέν φασιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κουρής Κουρήτην καὶ Κρήτην κατὰ συγκοπήν, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Κρητὸς τοῦ Διὸς καὶ Ἰδαίας νύμφης παιδός, οἱ δ´ ἀπὸ Κρήτης μιᾶς τῶν Ἑσπερίδων, οἱ δὲ ἀπό τινος γηγενοῦς Κρητός. ἄμεινον δὲ παρὰ τὸ Κρής Κρητός Κρήτη, ὡς Θρᾴκη καὶ Χιτώνη καὶ εὐφρόνη. λέγεται καὶ ποιητικῶς Κρῆται. λέγεται καὶ Κρής Κρητός καὶ Κρῆσσα· καὶ Κρηταῖος καὶ θηλυκῶς καὶ οὐδετέρως· καὶ Κρητεύς καὶ Κρητῆος καὶ Κρητήιος κτητικόν· καὶ θηλυκὸν Κρητηιάς. καὶ Κρηταιεύς καὶ Κρήσιος ἀπὸ τοῦ Κρής, καὶ Κρησιάς θηλυκὸν καὶ Κρησία κα…

Herodian

…ἴτε μιν Ἀργείων χρὴ καλέειν Ἀάτην καὶ ἀπάτη, ἐλάτη, Ἑκάτη, Κρήτη ἡ μεγίστη νῆσος, ἣν Κρεήτην ἔφη Ἀρχίλοχος κατὰ πλεονασμόν. οἱ μέν φασιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κουρής Κουρήτην καὶ Κρήτην κατὰ συγκοπήν, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Κρητὸς τοῦ Διός. οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Κρήτης μιᾶς τῶν Ἑσπερίδων, οἱ δὲ ἀπό τινος γηγενοῦς Κρητός. ἄμεινον δὲ παρὰ τὸ Κρής Κρητός Κρήτη ὡς Θρᾴκη καὶ Χιτώνη καὶ εὐφρόνη. λέγεται καὶ ποιητικῶς Κρῆται (Od. ξ 99, π 61). Ἀρήτη, ἀρητή δὲ τὸ ἐπίθετον. ἀήτη. Λήτη πόλις Μακεδονίας ἀπὸ τοῦ πλησίον ἱδρυμένου Λητοῦς ἱεροῦ. Διαβήτη νῆσος δυσμικωτέρα Σαρδοῦς καὶ Κύρνου. εἰσὶ καὶ Διαβῆται νῆσοι περὶ Σύμην. Ὑπάτη πόλις Αἰνιάνων. …