thebes
/θiːbz/ proper noun
Also a form of thebe
- proper noun A city in central Greece, the capital city of Boeotia and an important political centre in antiquity.
- proper noun An ancient city and archaeological site in Upper Egypt, having functioned as capital city at times during the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Θῆβαι (Thêbai), from two different sources. The name of the Greek city is further derived from Ionic-Attic Θήβη (Thḗbē), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀳𐀣 (te-qa /Tʰēgʷā/), from Proto-Hellenic *Tʰēgʷā, while the name of the Egyptian city is from Egyptian Demotic Egyptian tꜣ-jpy (“Thebes”, literally “the temple”), from earlier Egyptian tꜣ (“the”) + i-p:t-O45 (jpt, “Luxor”, literally “inner sanctum”).
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “thebes”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details