Trapezus

English

Etymology

From Latin Trapezus.

Proper noun

Trapezus

1. Former name of Trabzon.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Τραπεζοῦς (Trapezoûs).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /traˈpez.zuːs/, [t̪räˈpɛz̪d̪͡z̪uːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /traˈped.d͡zus/, [t̪räˈpɛd̪ː͡z̪us]

Proper noun

Trapezūs f sg (genitive Trapezūntis or Trapezūntos); third declension

1. Trabzon (a city in Pontus (NE Anatolia on the Black Sea), formerly the capital of the Late Mediaeval Empire of Trebizond, now a city in the Republic of Turkey)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Pomponius Mela to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Quintus Curtius Rufus to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Pliny the Elder to this entry?)

   • circa AD 100–110, P./C. Cornelius Tacitus (author), Charles Dennis Fisher (editor), Historiae (1911), book III, chapter xlvii:

     igitur Vitellii nomine adscitis gentibus, quae Pontum accolunt, corrupto in spem rapinarum egentissimo quoque, haud temnendae manus ductor, Trapezuntem vetusta fama civitatem, a Graecis in extremo Ponticae orae conditam, subitus inrupit.

     Accordingly he raised in the name of Vitellius the tribes that border on Pontus, bribed a number of very needy adventurers by the hope of plunder, and, at the head of a force by no means contemptible, made a sudden attack on the old and famous city of Trapezus, founded by the Greeks on the furthest shore of the Pontus. ― translation from: Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb, Complete Works of Tacitus (1873, repr. 1942), The History, book III, chapter xlvii

   • ante AD 116, P./C. Cornelius Tacitus (author), Charles Dennis Fisher (editor), Cornelii Taciti Annalium ab Excessu Divi Augusti Libri (1906), book XIII, chapter xxxix:

     Rex sive fraudem suspectans, quia plura simul in loca ibatur, sive ut commeatus nostros Pontico mari et Trapezunte oppido adventantis interciperet, propere discedit.

     The king either suspecting a stratagem from these simultaneous movements in different directions, or intending to cut off our supplies as they were coming up from the sea of Pontus and the town of Trapezus, hastily withdrew. ― translation from: Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb, Complete Works of Tacitus (1878?, repr. 1942), The Annals, book XIII, chapter xxxix

Declension

Third-declension noun (non-Greek-type or Greek-type, normal variant), with locative, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Trapezūs
Genitive	Trapezūntis Trapezūntos
Dative	Trapezūntī
Accusative	Trapezūntem Trapezūnta
Ablative	Trapezūnte
Vocative	Trapezūs
Locative	Trapezūntī Trapezūnte

Derived terms

• Trapezūntīnus

Descendants

• → English: Trapezus

References

• “Trăpēzūs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Trăpezūs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1,596/3.
• “Trapezos” on page 1,969/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

Further reading

• Trapezus on the Latin Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^la