νίτρον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• λῐ́τρον (lĭ́tron) — Homeric, Attic

Etymology

Borrowed from Semitic. Compare Hebrew נֶתֶר (néṯer, “washing soda”), all ultimately from Egyptian nṯrj:

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ní.tron/ → /ˈni.tron/ → /ˈni.tron/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ní.tron/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈni.tron/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈni.tron/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈni.tron/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈni.tron/

Noun

νῐ́τρον • (nĭ́tron) n (genitive νῐ́τρου); second declension

1. sodium carbonate or sodium nitrate (or perhaps mineral potassium nitrate), which were not distinguished in Europe until the 13th century

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ νῐ́τρον; τοῦ νῐ́τρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ νῐ́τρον tò nĭ́tron	τὼ νῐ́τρω tṑ nĭ́trō	τᾰ̀ νῐ́τρᾰ tằ nĭ́tră
Genitive	τοῦ νῐ́τρου toû nĭ́trou	τοῖν νῐ́τροιν toîn nĭ́troin	τῶν νῐ́τρων tôn nĭ́trōn
Dative	τῷ νῐ́τρῳ tôi nĭ́trōi	τοῖν νῐ́τροιν toîn nĭ́troin	τοῖς νῐ́τροις toîs nĭ́trois
Accusative	τὸ νῐ́τρον tò nĭ́tron	τὼ νῐ́τρω tṑ nĭ́trō	τᾰ̀ νῐ́τρᾰ tằ nĭ́tră
Vocative	νῐ́τρον nĭ́tron	νῐ́τρω nĭ́trō	νῐ́τρᾰ nĭ́tră
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• → Arabic: نَطْرُون (naṭrūn)
  • → Spanish: natrón
    • → French: natron
      • → English: natron
• → Latin: nitrum
  • → English: nitrum
  • → Old French: nitre
    • → French: nitre
      • → French: nitrogène
    • → Middle English: niter
      • English: niter

Further reading

• “νίτρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “νίτρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• νίτρον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “νίτρον”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011