λέων

Many ancient languages possessed similar words for lion, including Akkadian 𒌨 (labbu) (reconstructed to Proto-Semitic *labiʾ-). It is unclear which of them are related and who borrowed from whom. The ultimate source is likely not Indo-European, however.

The τ (t) in the stem λεοντ- (leont-) was influenced by the present participle. The original stem was *λεον- (*leon-), as shown by λέαινα (léaina, “female lion”) and Latin leō. If the stem were originally λεοντ- (leont-), the feminine form would be *λέουσα (*léousa).

λέων • (léōn) m (genitive λέοντος); third declension

1. lion
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, The Statesman 291a.9:

     πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ λέουσι τῶν ἀνδρῶν εἴξασι καὶ Κενταύροις καὶ τοιούτοισιν ἑτέροις

     polloì mèn gàr léousi tôn andrôn eíxasi kaì Kentaúrois kaì toioútoisin hetérois

2. lionheart, savage (one having the characteristics of a lion (positive or negative): savage, noble, or brave)

Alternative forms of the dative plural include λείουσι (leíousi) (late Epic) and λεόντεσσι (leóntessi).

• → Coptic: ⲗⲉⲱⲛ (leōn)
• → Latin: leō (see there for further descendants)

• λέων in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• λέων in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• λέων in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• λέων 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
• λέων in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• λέων in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3023 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.
  • Leon idem, page 1015.
  • lion idem, page 493.
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN

• λέοντας (léontas)
• λιοντάρι (liontári)

λέων • (léon) m (plural λέοντες)

1. Katharevousa form of λιοντάρι (liontári, “lion, brave man”)