ῥέθος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Since the meaning "face, countenance", given as Aeolic by grammarians, is certain, we have to depart from this when explaining the word. Both an older Epic meaning "mouth" and "figure, body" seems possible (compare Latin ōs (“mouth; face”) and faciēs (“figure; face”)). An original meaning "nostril(s)" fits well, and the transition to "face, body" is unproblematic. The word has no convincing etymology. The lack of the ϝ- in Aeolic makes a connection with Sanskrit वर्धते (vardhate, “to grow, thrive”) difficult. Fraenkel's suggestion to connect ῥίς (rhís, “nose, snout”) and ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”) is neither morphologically nor semantically convincing.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /r̥é.tʰos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈre.tʰos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈre.θos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈre.θos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈre.θos/

Noun

ῥέθος • (rhéthos) n (genitive ῥέθεος); third declension

(usually in the plural) limb, member
Synonyms: κῶλον (kôlon), μέλος (mélos)
(in the singular) face, countenance

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ ῥέθος; τοῦ ῥέθεος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ῥέθος tò rhéthos	τὼ ῥέθεε tṑ rhéthee	τᾰ̀ ῥέθεᾰ tà rhéthea
Genitive	τοῦ ῥέθεος toû rhétheos	τοῖν ῥεθέοιν toîn rhethéoin	τῶν ῥεθέων tôn rhethéōn
Dative	τῷ ῥέθεῐ̈ tôi rhétheï	τοῖν ῥεθέοιν toîn rhethéoin	τοῖς ῥέθεσῐ / ῥέθεσῐν toîs rhéthesi(n)
Accusative	τὸ ῥέθος tò rhéthos	τὼ ῥέθεε tṑ rhéthee	τᾰ̀ ῥέθεᾰ tà rhéthea
Vocative	ῥέθος rhéthos	ῥέθεε rhéthee	ῥέθεᾰ rhéthea
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ῥεθομᾱλῐ́δας (rhethomālídas)

“ῥέθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ῥέθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“ῥέθος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
ῥέθος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
ῥέθεα in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
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