μόλυβδος

Ancient Greek

Cognate with Mycenaean Greek 𐀗𐀪𐀺𐀈 (mo-ri-wo-do), from an Anatolian word cognate with Lydian 𐤪𐤠𐤭𐤦𐤥𐤣𐤠 (mariwda, “dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *morgʷ-iyo-, from a root *mergʷ- (“dark”),^[1]^[2]^[3] whence also English murky, Albanian marrtë (“dim as twilight; blurry”). Probably not cognate with Latin plumbum (“lead”), despite superficial similarity.

μόλυβδος • (mólubdos) m (genitive μολύβδου); second declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μόλῠβδος ho mólŭbdos	τὼ μολῠ́βδω tṑ molŭ́bdō	οἱ μόλῠβδοι hoi mólŭbdoi
Genitive	τοῦ μολῠ́βδου toû molŭ́bdou	τοῖν μολῠ́βδοιν toîn molŭ́bdoin	τῶν μολῠ́βδων tôn molŭ́bdōn
Dative	τῷ μολῠ́βδῳ tôi molŭ́bdōi	τοῖν μολῠ́βδοιν toîn molŭ́bdoin	τοῖς μολῠ́βδοις toîs molŭ́bdois
Accusative	τὸν μόλῠβδον tòn mólŭbdon	τὼ μολῠ́βδω tṑ molŭ́bdō	τοὺς μολῠ́βδους toùs molŭ́bdous
Vocative	μόλῠβδε mólŭbde	μολῠ́βδω molŭ́bdō	μόλῠβδοι mólŭbdoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μόλυβδος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 964-5
^ Ivo Hajnal, Graeco-Anatolian Contacts in the Mycenaean Period (Innsbruck: University of Innsbruck), 6.
^ H.C. Melchert, “Greek mólybdos as loanword from Lydian”, Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and their Neighbours. Proceedings of an International Conference on Cross-Cultural Interaction, September 17-19, 2004, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, eds. B.J.Collins, M.R. Bachvarova & I.C. Rutherford (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008), 153-157.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek μόλυβδος (mólubdos), of Anatolian origin, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *merkʷ- (“dark”). See also μολύβι (molývi).

μόλυβδος • (mólyvdos) m (uncountable)