chamaeleon

== English == === Noun === chamaeleon (plural chamaeleons) Archaic 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 𒌨𒈤𒊭𒆠 (nēšu ša qaqqari, “chameleon, reptile”, literally “lion of the ground", "predator that crawls upon the ground”). === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [kʰaˈmae̯.ɫe.oːn] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [kaˈmɛː.le.on] === Noun === chamaeleōn m (genitive chamaeleōnis or chamaeleontis); third declension chameleon (a kind of lizard) (sometimes feminine) carline thistle ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun (two different stems). ==== Descendants ==== Catalan: camaleó Old French: cameleon → Middle English: camelion English: chameleon French: caméléon → German: Chamäleon Italian: camaleonte === 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), “chamaeleon”, in A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, via the electronic Babylonian Library, page 251