Etymology

Peloponnese

P3E1L1O1P3O1N1N1E1S1E1

Today it means: A peninsula in Greece, separated from mainland Europe by the Gulf of Corinth and connected to it by the Isthmus of Corinth. Full definition →

Latin Peloponnēsu ← Ancient Greek Πελοπόννησος (Pelopónnēsos) ← Proto-Hellenic *ókʷs
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pelH-
  2. Ancient Greekπέλλος (péllos)
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₃ekʷ-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₃ókʷs
  5. Proto-Hellenic*ókʷs
  6. Ancient Greekὤψ (ṓps)
  7. Ancient GreekΠέλοπος (Pélopos)
  8. Ancient Greekνῆσος (nêsos)
  9. Ancient GreekΠελοπόννησος (Pelopónnēsos)
  10. LatinPeloponnēsu
  11. English todayPeloponnese

Learned borrowing from Latin Peloponnēsus, borrowed from Ancient Greek Πελοπόννησος (Pelopónnēsos), univerbation of Πέλοπος (Pélopos) + νῆσος (nêsos), literally “Isle of Pelops”.

Words from the same roots

LatinPeloponnēsus all →

Peloponnesus

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.