μανδραγόρας

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unexplained. Maybe from Old Persian *merdum gija (“plant of humans”), but it could be a folk-etymological adaptation of a foreign word.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /man.dra.ɡó.raːs/ → /man.draˈɣo.ras/ → /man.draˈɣo.ras/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /man.dra.ɡó.raːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /man.draˈɡo.ras/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /man.draˈɣo.ras/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /man.draˈɣo.ras/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /man.draˈɣo.ras/

Noun

μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱς • (mandragórās) m (genitive μᾰνδρᾰγόρου); first declension

1. mandrake (Mandragora officinarum)

   Synonyms: ἀλοῖτις (aloîtis), μώριος (mṓrios)

Inflection

First declension of ὁ μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱς; τοῦ μᾰνδρᾰγόρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱς ho mandragórās	τὼ μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱ tṑ mandragórā	οἱ μᾰνδρᾰγόραι hoi mandragórai
Genitive	τοῦ μᾰνδρᾰγόρου toû mandragórou	τοῖν μᾰνδρᾰγόραιν toîn mandragórain	τῶν μᾰνδρᾰγορῶν tôn mandragorôn
Dative	τῷ μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾳ tôi mandragórāi	τοῖν μᾰνδρᾰγόραιν toîn mandragórain	τοῖς μᾰνδρᾰγόραις toîs mandragórais
Accusative	τὸν μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱν tòn mandragórān	τὼ μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱ tṑ mandragórā	τοὺς μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱς toùs mandragórās
Vocative	μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱ mandragórā	μᾰνδρᾰγόρᾱ mandragórā	μᾰνδρᾰγόραι mandragórai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μανδραγοριζομένη (mandragorizoménē)
• μανδραγορικός (mandragorikós)
• μανδραγορίτης (mandragorítēs)

 

Descendants

• → Translingual: Mandragora
• → Classical Syriac: ܡܢܕܪܓܪܘܢ (mndrgrwn)
• → Latin: mandragorās (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Armenian: մանրագոր (manragor)
  • → Armenian: մանրագոր (manragor) (learned)
• → Old Georgian: მანდრაგორი (mandragori), მანდრაგური (mandraguri), მარდაგონი (mardagoni)
  • ⇒ Georgian: მანდრაგორა (mandragora)

Further reading

• “μανδραγόρας”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• μανδραγόρας in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 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