μίτρα

Forms

μίτρᾰ (mítra) f (genitive μίτρᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2] H. Petersson compared it with Sanskrit मित्र (mitrá, “friend”), properly “friendship”, assuming an inherited Proto-Indo-European *mitro- meaning “connection”, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to bind”).^[3][2] Frisk and Beekes call this quite hypothetical, since no matching primary verb is found.^[3][2] The word is isolated in Greek, and Beekes suggests that, given its technical meaning, it could well be a loanword, perhaps from an Indo-Iranian source; he also asks whether the short final vowel of the accusative points to a Pre-Greek word.^[2] Babiniotis mentions the same idea of a direct borrowing from Indo-Iranian.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is a piece of armour: a metal guard worn round the waist, protecting the lower part of the body.^[5][6][7] Archaeologists have identified it with semicircular bronze plates of the early Archaic period.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The basic idea was a band of any kind.^[7] In Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and the Hellenistic poets it is a woman's waist-band, the same as ζώνη (zṓnē): “to loosen the girdle” was said of a maiden, and ἄμιτρος (ámitros) “without a girdle” meant a girl not yet of marriageable age.^[6][5][7] It also named a woman's breast-band, a wrestler's belt and a surgical bandage.^[5][6]

As a band for the hair it became a headband or snood for women (Alcman, Euripides, Aristophanes), the victor's chaplet at the games in Pindar, and a badge of rank at the Ptolemaic court.^[5][6] Herodotus uses it for the oriental head-dress of men, perhaps a kind of turban, and in Aristophanes it marks a man as effeminate.^[5] It was the head-dress of the priest of Heracles at Cos, and in the Septuagint that of the Jewish high priest.^[5][9] Latin borrowed it as mitra.^[10][1]

Medieval Greek kept the word.^[11] In Modern Greek μίτρα (mítra) is a learned word for the bishop's mitre, taken from the Hellenistic sense “diadem”: the round, embroidered and jewelled head-covering that Orthodox bishops wear at some services.^[12][13]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a metal guard worn round the waist.^[5][6]
• 7th century BC – Alcman calls a Lydian headband the pride of young girls.^[5][14]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the victor's chaplet and, figuratively, for an ode in the Lydian mode.^[5][6][14]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for an oriental head-dress, perhaps a turban.^[5][6][14]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it for a maiden's girdle and for a diadem.^[5][6][14]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the head-dress of the priest of Heracles at Cos and for the fillets of sacrificial oxen.^[5][6][14]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for the mitre of Orthodox bishops.^[12][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A metal guard worn round the waist, protecting the lower body of a warrior.^[5][6]
2. A woman's girdle or waist-band, especially a maiden's girdle.^[5][6]
3. A headband or snood worn by women; an oriental head-dress of men, perhaps a turban.^[5][6]
4. The victor's chaplet at the games; figuratively, of an ode in the Lydian mode.^[5][6]
5. A diadem; a headband worn as a badge of rank at the Ptolemaic court.^[5][6]
6. A fillet worn by sacrificial oxen.^[6]
7. A woman's breast-band, the same as στρόφιον (stróphion).^[5][6]
8. A belt worn by wrestlers, or by the priests of Mars in their ritual dances; a strap for a quiver.^[5][6]
9. (medicine) A surgical bandage.^[5][1]
10. The head-dress of a priest; in the Septuagint, that of the Jewish high priest.^[5][9][15]

Word family

• αἰολομίτρης (aiolomítrēs)
• ἄμιτρος (ámitros)
• μιτρηφόρος (mitrēphóros)
• ἡμίμιτρον (hēmímitron)
• μιτρίον (mitríon)

Related words

• Latin mitra

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses it with a bronze plate, a diadem, a girdle, a corslet and a band.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
8. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
14. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)