μεῖραξ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

According to Beekes, we have to start from a noun, perhaps *μεῖρος (*meîros), which would agree with Sanskrit मर्य (marya, “young man, suitor, lover”) and Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (maⁱriia, “yeoman”). A feminine *μεῖρα (*meîra) may be also considered. As a remote cognate, Lithuanian mergà (“girl”) has been adduced and, with different vocalism, Lithuanian martì (“daughter-in-law”); also, the unclear Latin marītus (“married”). Nowadays, Celtic words are also connected, like Welsh morwyn (“maiden, virgin”) and Cornish moren (“maiden”). The connection with Albanian shemër (“second wife”) is hardly convincing. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méryos (“boy, girl”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mêː.raks/ → /ˈmi.raks/ → /ˈmi.raks/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mêː.raks/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.raks/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.raks/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.raks/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.raks/

Noun

μεῖρᾰξ • (meîrăx) f or m (genitive μείρᾰκος); third declension

1. young girl, lass
2. (in later writers) boy, lad

Declension

Third declension of ὁ, ἡ μεῖρᾰξ; τοῦ, τῆς μείρᾰκος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ, ἡ μεῖρᾰξ ho, hē meîrăx	τὼ μείρᾰκε tṑ meírăke	οἱ, αἱ μείρᾰκες hoi, hai meírăkes
Genitive	τοῦ, τῆς μείρᾰκος toû, tês meírăkos	τοῖν μειρᾰ́κοιν toîn meirắkoin	τῶν μειρᾰ́κων tôn meirắkōn
Dative	τῷ, τῇ μείρᾰκῐ tôi, têi meírăkĭ	τοῖν μειρᾰ́κοιν toîn meirắkoin	τοῖς, ταῖς μείρᾰξῐ / μείρᾰξῐν toîs, taîs meírăxĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸν, τὴν μείρᾰκᾰ tòn, tḕn meírăkă	τὼ μείρᾰκε tṑ meírăke	τοὺς, τᾱ̀ς μείρᾰκᾰς toùs, tā̀s meírăkăs
Vocative	μεῖρᾰξ meîrăx	μείρᾰκε meírăke	μείρᾰκες meírăkes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μειρᾰ́κῐον (meirắkĭon)
• μειρᾰκῐ́σκος (meirăkĭ́skos)
• μειρᾰκῠ́λλῐον (meirăkŭ́llĭon)

Further reading

• “μεῖραξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μεῖραξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μεῖραξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μεῖραξ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 921