μύρτος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Because of the phonetic similarity and their semantic proximity, this word, μύρρα (múrrha) and μυρίκη (muríkē) are usually considered to be mutually cognate Semitic loans without further argumentation. However, the variation μυρτ-/μυρσ- points to a origin.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mýr.tos/ → /ˈmyr.tos/ → /ˈmir.tos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mýr.tos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmyr.tos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmyr.tos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmyr.tos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmir.tos/

Noun

μύρτος • (múrtos) m (genitive μύρτου); second declension

1. myrtle (Myrtus communis)
2. twig or spray of myrtle

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ μῠ́ρτος; τοῦ μῠ́ρτου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μῠ́ρτος ho múrtos	τὼ μῠ́ρτω tṑ múrtō	οἱ μῠ́ρτοι hoi múrtoi
Genitive	τοῦ μῠ́ρτου toû múrtou	τοῖν μῠ́ρτοιν toîn múrtoin	τῶν μῠ́ρτων tôn múrtōn
Dative	τῷ μῠ́ρτῳ tôi múrtōi	τοῖν μῠ́ρτοιν toîn múrtoin	τοῖς μῠ́ρτοις toîs múrtois
Accusative	τὸν μῠ́ρτον tòn múrton	τὼ μῠ́ρτω tṑ múrtō	τοὺς μῠ́ρτους toùs múrtous
Vocative	μῠ́ρτε múrte	μῠ́ρτω múrtō	μῠ́ρτοι múrtoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μυρσεών (murseṓn)
• μυρσίνη (mursínē)
• μυρσινίτης (mursinítēs)
• μύρσινος (múrsinos)
• μυρταλίς (murtalís)
• μυρτάς (murtás)
• μυρτίδανον (murtídanon)
• μυρτίλωψ (murtílōps)
• μυρτωτή (murtōtḗ)

 

Descendants

• Latin: myrtus

Further reading

• “μύρτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μύρτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μύρτος 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