Ancient Greek edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Uncertain. Traditionally derived from a Proto-Indo-European *gʰérsdʰ-o/eh₂-, with cognates including Latin hordeum, Old High German gersta, but there are phonetic difficulties with this. Rather closer are Albanian drithë, Old Armenian գարի (gari), as if from a Proto-Indo-European *gʰr̥yo-. Or perhaps of Proto-Albanian/Illyrian origin, which may explain the vowel. Egyptian origin has also been considered. Beekes, not convinced by any proposal, suggests an old Wanderwort; others[1] have suggested a substrate. He notes that the Epic form points to an original root noun *krītʰ-.[2]

Pronunciation edit

 

Noun edit

κρῑθή (krīthḗf (genitive κρῑθῆς); first declension

  1. (in the plural) barley
    Synonym: ἀκοστή (akostḗ)
  2. pustule on the eyelid, stye
  3. barleycorn (unit of weight)
  4. penis

Inflection edit

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

  • English: crith

References edit

  1. ^ e.g. Demiraj, B. (1997), “drithë”, in Albanische Etymologien: Untersuchungen zum albanischen Erbwortschatz [Albanian Etymologies: []] (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 7) (in German), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, page 145
  2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “κριθή”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 779

Further reading edit