νηρίτης

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἀνᾱρῑ́τᾱς (anārī́tās), ἀνηρῑ́της (anērī́tēs), νηρείτης (nēreítēs)

Etymology

The connection with νηρόν (nērón, “water”) is refuted by the forms with the vocalic anlaut “α-”. Furnée takes this initial variation as evidence for a Pre-Greek origin. Plevačová draws the term to Finnish nieriä (“saibling”) – which see for more relatives –, downplaying the semantic difference by noting that both are longish sea creatures caught in a fisher’s net and the contexts in which the Greek and Latin are attested may as well point to a fish.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /nɛː.rǐː.tɛːs/ → /niˈri.tis/ → /niˈri.tis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /nɛː.rǐː.tɛːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ne̝ˈri.te̝s/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /niˈri.tis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /niˈri.tis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /niˈri.tis/

Noun

νηρῑ́της • (nērī́tēs) m (genitive νηρῑ́του); first declension

1. sea snail

Inflection

First declension of ὁ νηρῑ́της; τοῦ νηρῑ́του (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ νηρῑ́της ho nērī́tēs	τὼ νηρῑ́τᾱ tṑ nērī́tā	οἱ νηρῖται hoi nērîtai
Genitive	τοῦ νηρῑ́του toû nērī́tou	τοῖν νηρῑ́ταιν toîn nērī́tain	τῶν νηρῑτῶν tôn nērītôn
Dative	τῷ νηρῑ́τῃ tôi nērī́tēi	τοῖν νηρῑ́ταιν toîn nērī́tain	τοῖς νηρῑ́ταις toîs nērī́tais
Accusative	τὸν νηρῑ́την tòn nērī́tēn	τὼ νηρῑ́τᾱ tṑ nērī́tā	τοὺς νηρῑ́τᾱς toùs nērī́tās
Vocative	νηρῖτᾰ nērîta	νηρῑ́τᾱ nērī́tā	νηρῖται nērîtai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• → Latin: nārīta (see there for further descendants)
• → Translingual: Nerita

Further reading

• νηρίτης in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 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
• Plevačová, Hermína (1978) “K slovanským výpůjčkám narikla, nerita, nerka, nanara ap. [About the Slavic loans narikla, nerita, nerka, nanara and so on]”, in Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity. A, Řada jazykovědná‎^[1] (in Czech), volumes A25-26, pages 87–91