Etymologically
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μαίανδρος

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Forms

μαίανδρος (maíandros) m (genitive μαιάνδρου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the name of the river Μαίανδρος (Maíandros, “Maeander”) in Caria, famous for its windings, used as a common noun.[1][2][3] The origin of the river name is uncertain.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The river is named in the Iliad and in Hesiod's Theogony, and Herodotus notes its windings.[1][6] As a common noun it first appears in the Hellenistic period, in the Letter of Aristeas, for a winding ornamental pattern.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Strabo and Josephus also use it for the winding pattern, and Philostratus for the windings of a stream.[1][3] The Greeks used the river's name figuratively for such patterns, and Latin borrowed it as maeander.[3]

English took meander from Latin in the 1570s, first in the sense “confusion, intricacy”; it has been used for the course of a river since the 1590s.[3] Modern Greek μαίανδρος (maíandros) is a learned word for the meander or key pattern, the bends of a river, and figuratively anything convoluted.[2]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad names the river Maeander.[1][6]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus notes the windings of the river.[1][6]
  • Hellenistic period – The Letter of Aristeas uses it for a winding pattern.[1][2]
  • 1st century BC – 1st century AD – Strabo uses it for a winding pattern.[1]
  • 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus uses it for the windings of water.[1]
  • 1570s – English borrows meander from Latin.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A winding ornamental pattern, a meander or key pattern.[1][2]
  2. A winding, a bend, as of a stream.[1]
  • Μαίανδρος (Maíandros)
  • Latin maeander
  • English meander

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ Charbonnet, André, Onomata, v4 (Greek proper names, companion to Bailly 2020)
  6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press