LEXICON OF ORIENTAL WORDS IN ANCIENT GREEK

ἀνουφί <Egyptian; Roman period>

👉 ἀνουφί (v.l. ἀνουφή) – an Egyptian gloss with the meaning of ἄγρωστις ἡ ἐπαμήλωτος ‘dog’s tooth grass (Cynodon dactylon Pers.)’ (Dsc. 4.29 RV).

Dsc. 4.29 RV: ἄγρωστις ἡ ἐπαμήλωτος· (...) Αἰγύπτιοι ἀνουφί. – “Agrōstis hē epamēlōtos (dog’s tooth grass): (...) the Egyptians (call it) anuphi (...)”. Cf. the Egyptian gloss in Ps.-Apul., Herb. 78: anuspe (vv.ll. anusphae, anusfe) ‘id.’.

🅔 An Egyptian word without etymology. Cf. a hypothesis that ἀνουφί goes back to the Egyptian plant name ꜥnb, commonly identified as ‘halfa grass (Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf)’.

📖 Ref.: cf. Charpentier 1981: 157; Keimer 1927: 153-154.