μέτρον

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /mé.tron/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈme.tron/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈme.tron/^[1]

Forms

μέτρον (métron) n (genitive μέτρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”), with the instrument suffix -τρον (-tron).^[1][2] The root is seen in the Sanskrit athematic present mā́-ti “measures”; μήτρα (mḗtra) “land measure” (Cilicia) has the same suffix with a different grade of the root and matches Sanskrit mā́trā “measure” exactly.^[2][3]

The short ε of μέτρον, against Sanskrit mā́tram, has no exact parallel outside Greek.^[3] Beekes explains it from a zero grade *mh₁-tro-.^[2] Frisk allows a thematic vowel or a reduced grade of the root, and compares Prakrit mettam (“measure”).^[2][3][4] A derivation from *med- (“to measure”) is impossible, since *méd-tro- would have given *μέστρον.^[2][3] The same verb gives μῆτις (mêtis).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a measuring rod or cord (two men “with measures in their hands” quarrel over a boundary), a unit of capacity (“a thousand measures” of wine), the full measure of youth (ἥβης μέτρον), and the length of a journey.^[5][4][6]

Semantic evolution

From Hesiod on it is also due measure and moderation (Theognis, Pindar, Euripides, Plato).^[7][4] It named standard units of weight and measure, such as those that Pheidon gave the Peloponnesians (Herodotus), and in papyri of the 2nd century BC local units of grain.^[7][6] Protagoras' saying that man is “the measure of all things” is quoted by Plato and Aristotle, and Plato and Xenophon use the word for a standard of judgement.^[6][7]

In verse it is the metrical unit and metre, verse as opposed to prose (Aristophanes, Isocrates, Plato), and Aristotle uses it of particular metres such as the iambic.^[7][4] In the Gospels it is the measure with which one measures others (Matthew 7:2), and Luke's “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over”.^[8]

It was borrowed as Latin metrum, and through Latin it reached the other European languages, as in mètre and English meter, together with compounds such as διάμετρος (diámetros) and γεωμετρία (geōmetría).^[4][9] Medieval Greek used it for units of measure, measuring vessels and counting, and it continues as Modern Greek μέτρο (métro).^[10][1]

Timeline

• Homer – a measuring rod, measures of wine, “the measure of youth”.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for due measure.^[7][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus credits Pheidon with the measures of the Peloponnesians.^[6][7][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato quotes Protagoras: man is the measure of all things.^[6][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for particular metres.^[7][11]
• 2nd century BC – papyri use it for local units of grain.^[6]
• 1st century AD – the Gospels: “the measure you give”.^[8]
• Modern Greek – μέτρο.^[10][1]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of measuring, measurement.^[7]
2. A standard unit of measure, and (plural) weights and measures.^[7][6]
3. A quantity measured by such a unit; the full measure of youth.^[7][5]
4. A measuring scoop or vessel; a measuring rod.^[7][5]
5. A standard of judgement, a criterion.^[7][6]
6. Size, length, extent, and (plural) dimensions.^[7]
7. Distance, spacing.^[7]
8. A prescribed or proper measure, and (plural) the boundaries of a mining claim.^[7]
9. Due measure, moderation.^[7][4]
10. A limit or end.^[7]
11. (prosody) A metrical unit; metre, verse as opposed to prose.^[7][4]

Word family

• μετρέω (metréō)
• μετρητός (metrētós)
• μετρικός (metrikós)
• μέτριος (métrios)
• τετράμετρος (tetrámetros)
• συμμετρία (summetríā)
• σύμμετρος (súmmetros)
• γεωμετρία (geōmetríā)
• διάμετρος (diámetros)
• περίμετρος (perímetros)

Related words

• Latin metrum
• English symmetry
• English meter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Βασικό Λεξικό της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής, Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
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 f g h i j k l m n o p q r Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge