ὑμήν

See also: Ὑμήν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *syewh₁-. Cognates include Sanskrit स्यूमन् (syū́man), Old Prussian schumeno, and Hittite [script needed] (šumanza).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hy.mɛ̌ːn/ → /yˈmin/ → /iˈmin/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hy.mɛ̌ːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /(h)yˈme̝n/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /yˈmin/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /yˈmin/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /iˈmin/

Noun

ῠ̔μήν • (hŭmḗn) m (genitive ῠ̔μένος); third declension

1. thin skin, membrane.
2. (marriage) embrace

The term is related to Ὑμήν, the Ancient Greek god of Marriage, so can be used in relation to marriage.

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ῠ̔μήν; τοῦ ῠ̔μένος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ῠ̔μήν ho hŭmḗn	τὼ ῠ̔μένε tṑ hŭméne	οἱ ῠ̔μένες hoi hŭménes
Genitive	τοῦ ῠ̔μένος toû hŭménos	τοῖν ῠ̔μένοιν toîn hŭménoin	τῶν ῠ̔μένων tôn hŭménōn
Dative	τῷ ῠ̔μένῐ tôi hŭménĭ	τοῖν ῠ̔μένοιν toîn hŭménoin	τοῖς ῠ̔μέσῐ / ῠ̔μέσῐν toîs hŭmésĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸν ῠ̔μένᾰ tòn hŭménă	τὼ ῠ̔μένε tṑ hŭméne	τοὺς ῠ̔μένᾰς toùs hŭménăs
Vocative	ῠ̔μήν hŭmḗn	ῠ̔μένε hŭméne	ῠ̔μένες hŭménes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ὑμένινος (huméninos)

Descendants

• → French: hymen
  • → English: hymen
  • → Romanian: himen
  • → Turkish: himen

References

• “ὑμήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὑμήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ὑμήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • hymen idem, page 412.
  • membrane idem, page 524.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• Liddell & Scott, 2013, p.829.