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 • (meîrax) 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 meîrax	τὼ μείρᾰκε tṑ meírake	οἱ, αἱ μείρᾰκες hoi, hai meírakes
Genitive	τοῦ, τῆς μείρᾰκος toû, tês meírakos	τοῖν μειρᾰ́κοιν toîn meirákoin	τῶν μειρᾰ́κων tôn meirákōn
Dative	τῷ, τῇ μείρᾰκῐ tôi, têi meíraki	τοῖν μειρᾰ́κοιν toîn meirákoin	τοῖς, ταῖς μείρᾰξῐ / μείρᾰξῐν toîs, taîs meíraxi(n)
Accusative	τὸν, τὴν μείρᾰκᾰ tòn, tḕn meíraka	τὼ μείρᾰκε tṑ meírake	τοὺς, τᾱ̀ς μείρᾰκᾰς toùs, tā̀s meírakas
Vocative	μεῖρᾰξ meîrax	μείρᾰκε meírake	μείρᾰκες meírakes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μειρᾰ́κῐον (meirákion)
• μειρᾰκῐ́σκος (meirakískos)
• μειρᾰκῠ́λλῐον (meirakúllion)

 

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