Μῆδος

See also: μῆδος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Old Iranian name, from Old Persian 𐎶𐎠𐎭 (m-a-d /⁠Māda-⁠/), but of uncertain meaning; possibly from Proto-Iranian *mádyah (“in the middle”). Folk etymology connected it to Μήδεια (Mḗdeia), granddaughter of Helios.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̂ː.dos/ → /ˈmi.ðos/ → /ˈmi.ðos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mɛ̂ː.dos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈme̝.dos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ðos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ðos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ðos/

Noun

Μῆδος • (Mêdos) m (genitive Μήδου); second declension

1. an inhabitant of Media; a Mede or Median
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.77

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ Μῆδος; τοῦ Μήδου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ Μῆδος ho Mêdos	τὼ Μήδω tṑ Mḗdō	οἱ Μῆδοι hoi Mêdoi
Genitive	τοῦ Μήδου toû Mḗdou	τοῖν Μήδοιν toîn Mḗdoin	τῶν Μήδων tôn Mḗdōn
Dative	τῷ Μήδῳ tôi Mḗdōi	τοῖν Μήδοιν toîn Mḗdoin	τοῖς Μήδοις toîs Mḗdois
Accusative	τὸν Μῆδον tòn Mêdon	τὼ Μήδω tṑ Mḗdō	τοὺς Μήδους toùs Mḗdous
Vocative	Μῆδε Mêde	Μήδω Mḗdō	Μῆδοι Mêdoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• Μηδῐ́ᾱ (Mēdíā)
• Μηδῐ́ζω (Mēdízō)
• Μηδικός (Mēdikós)
• Μηδῐ́ς (Mēdís)
• Μηδισμός (Mēdismós)
• Μηδιστί (Mēdistí)

Descendants

• Greek: Μήδος (Mídos)
• Latin: Mēdus
  • English: Mede

References

• “Μῆδος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Μῆδος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• G3370 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,016
• Tavernier, Jan (2007), Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550-330 B.C.): Linguistic Study of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts, Peeters Publishers