𐀏𐀔

Mycenaean Greek

Etymology

The word has been connected to Ancient Greek χαμαί (khamaí, “to/on the earth”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth”). Chadwick & Baumbach (1963) suggest the reading kʰamā, pointing to an obsolete Proto-Hellenic noun from which χαμαί (khamaí) would be the locative, though since then other authors have interpreted the ending -αί (-aí) as a fossilized PIE allative or other suffix (cf. Beekes). Compare also Ancient Greek κάμαν (káman) in the phrase κάμαν τὸν ἀγρόν (káman tòn agrón), where the κ (k) might simply be a regional Cretan spelling of χ (kh).

Noun

𐀏𐀔 (ka-ma)

1. (meaning uncertain; perhaps a kind of agricultural holding: “land, field”)

References

• John Chadwick, Lydia Baumbach (1963) “The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary”, in Glotta : Zeitschrift für griechische und lateinische Sprache, volume 41, number 3/4, Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG), →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 256 of 157–271: “χαμαί”
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χαμαί”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1612–1613