μάγειρος

Forms

μᾰ́γειρος (mágeiros) m (genitive μᾰγείρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The earlier history of the word is unknown.^[2][3] Beekes asks whether it is Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, from something like *mak-ary-, because the word looks non-Indo-European: it alternates ⟨ει⟩ with ⟨ῑ⟩, and ⟨γ⟩ with ⟨χ⟩ if μάχαιρα (mákhaira, “large knife”) belongs here.^[2][4][1] Pisani took it to be Macedonian and related to the word for a knife, and Schwyzer compared Latin mactō (“to sacrifice”).^[2][3] It is not related to μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), as earlier scholars assumed.^[2][3]

As a term of higher cooking it seems to have entered Attic from Doric μάγιρος (mágiros), replacing the older δαιτρός (daitrós), but Chantraine finds the argument for this undecided.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus and Euripides first use it; in the Cyclops Euripides calls the man-eating Cyclops “Hades' butcher”.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The mageiros slaughtered and cut up the sacrificial animal and cooked its meat, so the word means both “butcher” and “cook”; he was often hired for the occasion.^[6][7][2] Doric inscriptions spell it μάγιρος, Attic μάγειρος, and later both spellings are frequent.^[6]

The Septuagint uses it in 1 Samuel for a cook.^[8] Medieval Greek kept it, with the form Modern Greek μάγειρας (máyiras), which became the ordinary Modern Greek word for a cook.^[9][10][11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it.^[5][6][12]
• 5th century BC – An inscription from Epidaurus has the Doric form μάγιρος (mágiros), and an Attic one has μάγειρος.^[6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of the butcher and meat-cook, Aristophanes of the cook.^[6][7][12]
• 3rd century BC – The Septuagint uses it in 1 Samuel for a cook.^[8]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek μάγειρας (máyiras) means a cook.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A butcher who slaughters and prepares meat for cooking, often hired for a sacrifice.^[6][7]
2. A cook.^[7][6]
3. A meat-seller.^[6]

Word family

• μαγειρεύω (mageireúō)
• μαγειρικός (mageirikós)
• ἀρχιμάγειρος (arkhimágeiros)

Related words

• μάχαιρα (mákhaira)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge