Ancient Greek

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Often assigned to Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (to fall into thinking, remember, care for),[1][2] which is acknowledged by Beekes, but he finds it unconvincing and instead derives it from Pre-Greek based on the ending of the word.[3] Compare Latin mas and Latin maritus.

Le Feuvre (2021) maintains the usual derivation from *(s)mer- (to fall into thinking, remember, care for) and explains the ending of the word from a zero-grade of *twerH- (to seize, bind), whence also σειρά (seirá, rope, cord).[4]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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μᾰ́ρτῠς (mártusm or f (genitive μᾰ́ρτῠρος); third declension

  1. witness
  2. martyr

Declension

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and see words with μαρτυρ-, μάρτυς @perseus.tufts.edu

Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
  2. ^ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “μάρτυς”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Le Feuvre, Claire (2021) “Greek μάρτυς ‘witness’, σειρά ‘rope’ and PIE *tṷer(H)- ‘to bind’”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics[1], volume 134, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG), →ISSN, →JSTOR, retrieved May 12, 2023, pages 225–238

Further reading

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