chamaeleon

See also: chameleon, Chamaeleon, Chamäleon, chamæleon, and chamæléon

English

Noun

chamaeleon (plural chamaeleons)

Alternative spelling of chameleon

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων (khamailéōn), from χαμαί (khamaí, “on the earth, on the ground”) + λέων (léōn, “lion”); ultimately a calque from Akkadian 𒌨𒈤 𒊭 𒆠 (nēšu ša qaqqari, “chameleon, reptile”, literally “lion of the ground", "predator that crawls upon the ground”).

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kʰaˈmae̯.le.oːn/, [kʰäˈmäe̯ɫ̪eoːn]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kaˈme.le.on/, [käˈmɛːleon]

Noun

chamaeleōn m (genitive chamaeleōnis or chamaeleōntis); third declension

chameleon (a kind of lizard)
(sometimes feminine) carline thistle

Declension

Third-declension noun (two different stems).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	chamaeleōn	chamaeleōnēs chamaeleōntēs
Genitive	chamaeleōnis chamaeleōntis	chamaeleōnum chamaeleōntum
Dative	chamaeleōnī chamaeleōntī	chamaeleōnibus chamaeleōntibus
Accusative	chamaeleōnem chamaeleōntem	chamaeleōnēs chamaeleōntēs
Ablative	chamaeleōne chamaeleōnte	chamaeleōnibus chamaeleōntibus
Vocative	chamaeleōn	chamaeleōnēs chamaeleōntēs

Descendants

Catalan: camaleó
Old French: cameleon
- → Middle English: camelion
  - English: chameleon
- French: caméléon
→ German: Chamäleon

References

“chamaeleon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
chamaeleon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
“chamaeleon”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
Critical and Philological Notes: Tablet XI, Note 314 in Andrew R. George (2003) The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Volume II, Oxford University Press, pages 896-897
nēšu(m) in Black, Jeremy, George, Andrew, Postgate, Nicholas (2000) A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, page 251