μάρτυς

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

μαίτυρς (maíturs) — Cretan
μᾰ́ρτῠρ (mártur) — Aeolic
μάρτυρος (márturos) — Epic

Etymology

Often assigned to Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to fall into thinking, remember, care for”),^[1]^[2] which is acknowledged by Beekes, but he finds it unconvincing and instead derives it from Pre-Greek based on the ending of the word.^[3] Compare Latin mas and Latin maritus.

Le Feuvre (2021) maintains the usual derivation from *(s)mer- (“to fall into thinking, remember, care for”) and explains the ending of the word from a zero-grade of *twerH- (“to seize, bind”), whence also σειρά (seirá, “rope, cord”).^[4]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /már.tys/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmar.tys/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmar.tys/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmar.tys/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmar.tis/

Noun

μᾰ́ρτῠς • (mártus) m or f (genitive μᾰ́ρτῠρος); third declension

Declension

Third declension of ὁ, ἡ μᾰ́ρτῠς; τοῦ, τῆς μᾰ́ρτῠρος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ, ἡ μᾰ́ρτῠς ho, hē mártus	τὼ μᾰ́ρτῠρε tṑ márture	οἱ, αἱ μᾰ́ρτῠρες hoi, hai mártures
Genitive	τοῦ, τῆς μᾰ́ρτῠρος toû, tês márturos	τοῖν μᾰρτῠ́ροιν toîn martúroin	τῶν μᾰρτῠ́ρων tôn martúrōn
Dative	τῷ, τῇ μᾰ́ρτῠρῐ tôi, têi márturi	τοῖν μᾰρτῠ́ροιν toîn martúroin	τοῖς, ταῖς μάρτῠσῐ / μάρτῠσῐν toîs, taîs mártusi / mártusin
Accusative	τὸν, τὴν μᾰ́ρτῠρᾰ tòn, tḕn mártura	τὼ μᾰ́ρτῠρε tṑ márture	τοὺς, τᾱ̀ς μᾰ́ρτῠρᾰς toùs, tā̀s márturas
Vocative	μᾰ́ρτῠς mártus	μᾰ́ρτῠρε márture	μᾰ́ρτῠρες mártures
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Related terms

μᾰ́ρτῠρ m (mártur)
μᾰρτῠρέω (marturéō)
μᾰρτῠρῐ́ᾱ f (marturíā)
μᾰρτῠ́ρῐον n (martúrion)
ψευδομᾰ́ρτῠς m (pseudomártus)

and see words with μαρτυρ-, μάρτυς @perseus.tufts.edu

Descendants

Greek: μάρτυρας (mártyras)
→ Latin: martyr (see there for further descendants)
→ Old Armenian: մարտիրոս (martiros)
- Armenian: մարտիրոս (martiros)
→ Old Georgian: მარტჳლი (marṭwili), მარტჳრი (marṭwiri)
- Georgian: მარტვილი (marṭvili)

References

^ Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
^ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “μάρτυς”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μάρτυς”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 908-9
^ Le Feuvre, Claire (2021) “Greek μάρτυς ‘witness’, σειρά ‘rope’ and PIE *tṷer(H)- ‘to bind’”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics‎^[1], volume 134, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG), →ISSN, →JSTOR, retrieved May 12, 2023, pages 225–238

“μάρτυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“μάρτυρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“μάρτυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
μάρτυς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
“μάρτυς”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G3144 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[2], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- authority idem, page 53.
- witness idem, page 985.
“μάρτυς”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

[2] John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “μάρτυς”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

[3] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μάρτυς”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 908-9

[Le_Feuvre_2021_pp._pp.225–238-4] Le Feuvre, Claire (2021) “Greek μάρτυς ‘witness’, σειρά ‘rope’ and PIE *tṷer(H)- ‘to bind’”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics‎^[1], volume 134, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG), →ISSN, →JSTOR, retrieved May 12, 2023, pages 225–238

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