μερισμός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

μερίζω (merízō, “I divide”) +‎ -μός (-mós, event or process noun suffix)

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /me.riz.mós/ → /me.rizˈmos/ → /me.rizˈmos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /me.riz.mós/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /me.rizˈmos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /me.rizˈmos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /me.rizˈmos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /me.rizˈmos/

Noun

μερῐσμός • (merismós) m (genitive μερῐσμοῦ); second declension

1. dividing, division; esp. apportionment, allocation; distribution
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 903b
   • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants 1.12.6
   • 458 CE – 538 CE, Damascius, Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles 134:

     ὁ τῶν θεῶν ἔσχατος μερισμὸς ἄχρι τῆς ὕλης προῆλθεν

     ho tôn theôn éskhatos merismòs ákhri tês húlēs proêlthen

   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians 48.2, (of funds)
   • Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum 364.81, (of money; Ephesus, iii B.C.E.)
   • Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum 1017.16, (of victims; Sinope, iii B.C.E.)
   • 342 BCE – 290 BCE, Menander, Men at Arbitration 244, (“going shares”):

     οὐκ ἔνεστιν οὐδὲ εἷς παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ μ.

     ouk énestin oudè heîs par᾽ emoì m.

   1. partition
      • 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 9.34.7:

        τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας

        tês Akarnanías

   2. share of taxation, assessment
      • PTeb. 58.38, (ii B.C.E.)
      • PTeb. 29.15, (ii B.C.E.)
      • PTeb., Ostr.Bodl. ii.18.41, (C.E. ii)
   3. role, part assigned, in a religious ceremony
      • Inscriptiones Graecae 22.1368.65, (C.E. ii)
   4. kind of gymnastic
      • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Thrasybulus 47
2. (rhetoric) division of subjects, arrangement, in writing
   • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Commentaries on the Attic Orators: On Isaeus 3, (plural)
   1. the art of dividing a whole into its parts
      • 161 CE – 180 CE, Hermogenes, On Types of Style 2.1
3. (in logic) assignment of the elements of a contradiction
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1027b.20
   1. definition
      • 3rd century CE, Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 7.62
4. (in grammar) classification of parts of speech (hence, concretely, class); distribution of the functions of inflexions; opposed to σύγχυσις (súnkhusis)
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Syntax 23.8
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Syntax 48.9
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Syntax 95.17
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Syntax 109.4
   1. analysis of a sentence into its component parts, parsing; compare ἐπιμερισμός (epimerismós)
      • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Syntax 140.11
      • Sch., D.T. 214.H.
5. (in metric) division
   • 160 CE – 210 CE, Sextus Empiricus, Against the Mathematicians 1.159:

     ὁ μερισμὸς ὁ τῶν μέτρων

     ho merismòs ho tôn métrōn

     division into feet, scansion

   • 160 CE – 210 CE, Sextus Empiricus, Against the Mathematicians 1.161:

     ὁ κατὰ γραμματικὴν μερισμός

     ho katà grammatikḕn merismós

     division [of a line] into words

6. (mathematics) quotient
   • Dioph. 4.22

Declension

Second declension of ὁ μερῐσμός; τοῦ μερῐσμοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μερῐσμός ho merismós	τὼ μερῐσμώ tṑ merismṓ	οἱ μερῐσμοί hoi merismoí
Genitive	τοῦ μερῐσμοῦ toû merismoû	τοῖν μερῐσμοῖν toîn merismoîn	τῶν μερῐσμῶν tôn merismôn
Dative	τῷ μερῐσμῷ tôi merismôi	τοῖν μερῐσμοῖν toîn merismoîn	τοῖς μερῐσμοῖς toîs merismoîs
Accusative	τὸν μερῐσμόν tòn merismón	τὼ μερῐσμώ tṑ merismṓ	τοὺς μερῐσμούς toùs merismoús
Vocative	μερῐσμέ merismé	μερῐσμώ merismṓ	μερῐσμοί merismoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• → English: merism, merismus, metamerism
• Greek: μερισμός (merismós)
• → Latin: merismos
  • → French: mérisme
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: merisme

References

• “μερισμός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• G3311 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible