μέμονα

Forms

μέμονᾰ (mémona) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *memóne,^[1] an old stative perfect of Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”), Beekes' *mé-mon-h₂e.^[2][3] It matches Latin meminī (“to remember”) except in the ending, and without reduplication Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽 (man, “to think, believe”) and 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌽 (gaman, “to remember”).^[2][4] The alternation of the root is old: the plural μέμαμεν (mémamen) comes from *mé-mn̥-me, as 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌿𐌼 (munum) does, and the imperative μεμάτω (memátō) corresponds exactly to Latin mementō.^[2][4]

The same root gives μένος (ménos, “might, ardour”) and μαίνομαι (maínomai, “to rage”).^[5][6][3] Chantraine notes that in Latin it gave words for the mind, such as mēns, while in Greek this group narrowed to the ardour of fighting.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is an epic and lyric word, found from the Iliad on, where its forms are frequent: a warrior is eager to fight or to drag off a body, and the participle describes fighters pressing on.^[2][5][8]

Semantic evolution

Most uses are Homeric (13 of its 28 tokens in GLAUx are in the 8th century BC).^[8] Beside eagerness with an infinitive or genitive, it means to rush in some direction, and more weakly to have in mind, intend; the participle is an adjective, “eager, vehement”, even of a ravenous stomach in the Odyssey.^[6][5] Herodotus uses the infinitive μεμονέναι (memonénai), and Euripides has it of warships impatient to sail.^[5][7][6] It lived on in Hellenistic poetry, with Theocritus and Apollonius of Rhodes.^[6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for being eager to fight and to rush on.^[5][6][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of eagerness.^[6][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus has the infinitive μεμονέναι, and Euripides uses it of ships impatient to sail.^[5][6]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses the participle of speaking with passion.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be eager, keen, with an infinitive (to do something) or a genitive (for something).^[5][6][1]
2. To hasten, rush in some direction.^[6][1]
3. To have in mind, intend.^[6][2][1]
4. (participle) Eager, vehement; with verbs of motion, in eager haste.^[6][5]

Related words

• μέμαα (mémaa)
• μένος (ménos)
• μαίνομαι (maínomai)
• Latin meminī
• Latin mēns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son