τήθη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• τηθή (tēthḗ)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁dʰ-. Cognate with Proto-Slavic *dědъ (“grandfather”), Lithuanian dė̃dė, dė̃dis (“uncle”) and Latvian dȩ̀ds (“old man”). Probably originally an onomatopoeia of babies' speech.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /tɛ̌ː.tʰɛː/ → /ˈti.θi/ → /ˈti.θi/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tɛ̌ː.tʰɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈte̝.tʰe̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈti.θi/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈti.θi/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈti.θi/

Noun

τήθη • (tḗthē) f (genitive τήθης); first declension

1. grandmother

   Synonym: μᾰ́μμη (mắmmē)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ τήθη; τῆς τήθης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ τήθη hē tḗthē	τὼ τήθᾱ tṑ tḗthā	αἱ τῆθαι hai têthai
Genitive	τῆς τήθης tês tḗthēs	τοῖν τήθαιν toîn tḗthain	τῶν τηθῶν tôn tēthôn
Dative	τῇ τήθῃ têi tḗthēi	τοῖν τήθαιν toîn tḗthain	ταῖς τήθαις taîs tḗthais
Accusative	τὴν τήθην tḕn tḗthēn	τὼ τήθᾱ tṑ tḗthā	τᾱ̀ς τήθᾱς tā̀s tḗthās
Vocative	τήθη tḗthē	τήθᾱ tḗthā	τῆθαι têthai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἐπῐτήθη (epĭtḗthē)
• προτήθη (protḗthē)
• τηθῐ́ᾱ (tēthĭ́ā)
• τηθῐ́ς (tēthĭ́s)

Further reading

• “τήθη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• τήθη 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
• Chantraine, Pierre (1968–1980) “τήθη”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (in French), Paris: Klincksieck, page 1113