ὑμήν

See also: Ὑμήν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *syewh₁-. Cognates include Sanskrit स्यूमन् (syū́man), Old Prussian schumeno, and Hittite [script needed] (šumanza).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hy.mɛ̌ːn/ → /yˈmin/ → /iˈmin/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hy.mɛ̌ːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /(h)yˈme̝n/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /yˈmin/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /yˈmin/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /iˈmin/

Noun

ῠ̔μήν • (humḗn) m (genitive ῠ̔μένος); third declension

1. thin skin, membrane.
2. (marriage) embrace

The term is related to Ὑμήν, the Ancient Greek god of Marriage, so can be used in relation to marriage.

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ῠ̔μήν; τοῦ ῠ̔μένος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ῠ̔μήν ho humḗn	τὼ ῠ̔μένε tṑ huméne	οἱ ῠ̔μένες hoi huménes
Genitive	τοῦ ῠ̔μένος toû huménos	τοῖν ῠ̔μένοιν toîn huménoin	τῶν ῠ̔μένων tôn huménōn
Dative	τῷ ῠ̔μένῐ tôi huméni	τοῖν ῠ̔μένοιν toîn huménoin	τοῖς ῠ̔μέσῐ / ῠ̔μέσῐν toîs humési(n)
Accusative	τὸν ῠ̔μένᾰ tòn huména	τὼ ῠ̔μένε tṑ huméne	τοὺς ῠ̔μένᾰς toùs huménas
Vocative	ῠ̔μήν humḗn	ῠ̔μένε huméne	ῠ̔μένες huménes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ὑμένινος (huméninos)

Descendants

• → French: hymen
  • → English: hymen
  • → Romanian: himen
  • → Turkish: himen

References

• “ὑμήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὑμήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ὑμήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • hymen idem, page 412.
  • membrane idem, page 524.
• 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
• Liddell & Scott, 2013, p.829.