Μήτηρ
mother
Translated by Catharine Roth7 Apr 2008Vetting: high6 revisions
Translation
[genitive] mhte/ros ["of a mother"], and with syncope mhtro/s .1 And tai=s mhtra/si [is] the [dative] plural.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Μήτηρ, μητέρος, καὶ ἐν συγκοπῇ μητρός. καὶ ταῖς μητράσι τὸ πληθυντικόν.
Betacode
*mh/thr, mhte/ros, kai\ e)n sugkoph=| mhtro/s. kai\ tai=s mhtra/si to\ plhquntiko/n.
Notes (2)
- 1The declension in the singular should be nominative
mh/thr with lengthened e-grade, vocativemh=ter , genitive and dative oxytone with zero-grade of the stemmhtro/s andmhtri/ , accusative paroxytone with e-grade of the stemmhte/ra . But in epic/poetic language the genitive and dative can show the e-grade, which is probably a secondary development by analogy and/or metri causa and not, as implied in this entry, an original stage from which the more common form develops by syncope; cf. Etymologicum Gudianum 394.6, Etymologicum Magnum 584.53, and LSJ s.v.mh/thr (web address 1). ↩ - 2In the dative plural,
-ra- comes from an inherited vocalic r. The paroxytone accent has been attributed (not without dispute) to Wheeler's Law, on the assumption that the original accentuation was oxytone. See bibliography below. ↩
References
M. Lejeune, Phonétique historique du mycénien et du grec ancien (Paris 1972), p. 297
P. Probert, Ancient Greek Accentuation (Oxford 2006), pp. 91, 95 n. 30
P. Probert, Ancient Greek Accentuation (Oxford 2006), pp. 91, 95 n. 30
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
Neighbouring entries
Revision history6 revisions · last 22 May 2013
- Revised — David Whitehead
- updated bibliography — Catharine Roth
- tweaked note — Catharine Roth
- added note 2 and bibliography — Catharine Roth
- cosmetics, augmented note, added link and keywords — William Hutton
- cosmetic — David Whitehead
- Translated — Catharine Roth