μαργαρίτης

Forms

μαργᾰρῑ́της (margarī́tēs) m (genitive μαργᾰρῑ́του); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an oriental loanword, mostly taken to be borrowed from Middle Persian marvārīt (“pearl”), as Schiffer proposed,^[2][3] whence Persian مروارید (marvârid).^[1] Brust discusses this view critically.^[2] Chantraine argues that the Greeks, who came to know the pearl through Alexander's expedition, must have met it first in Iran; the Middle Persian word, probably a loan itself, may have prompted the choice of the stone-name suffix -ίτης (-ítēs).^[4]

The older view derived it from Sanskrit मञ्जरी (mañjarī, “flower bud; pearl”), with the same suffix added as in many other names of stones.^[2][3] The Sanskrit sense “pearl” is found only in lexicographers, and both that word and its by-form are late and rare, as is μάργαρον (márgaron), probably a back-formation from μαργαρίτης.^[2] Gershevitch proposed an Iranian *mr̥ga-ahri-ita- (“oyster”), literally “born from the shell of a bird”.^[2][1] Rosół lists a Semitic etymology among those he rejects.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Theophrastus, in his work on stones, says that pearls come from India and some islands of the Erythraean Sea.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Strabo, Aelian and Arrian use it for the pearl,^[2] and Aelian also for a “land pearl”, an unidentified precious stone.^[6] Androsthenes, quoted by Athenaeus, calls it the μαργαρῖτις (margarîtis) stone.^[6]

In the New Testament pearls are worn with gold and precious stones, a merchant seeks fine pearls and finds one of great value, and each gate of the heavenly city is a single pearl.^[7] It was borrowed as Latin margarita,^[8] and through Late Latin it became English margarite, “pearl”, in late Old English.^[9] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word, also in church texts,^[10] and its diminutive μαργαριτάριον (margaritárion) gave Modern Greek μαργαριτάρι (margaritári).^[11]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes pearls from India and the Erythraean Sea.^[6][5][12]
• 1st century BC–1st century AD – Strabo uses it for the pearl.^[2][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of a pearl of great value and of pearls worn with gold.^[7][13]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian uses it also for an unidentified precious stone.^[6][12]
• Late Old English – English borrows margarite from Late Latin.^[9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek μαργαριτάρι (margaritári) continues its medieval diminutive.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pearl.^[6][7]
2. (Aelian) “Land pearl”, an unidentified precious stone.^[6]

Word family

• μάργαρον (márgaron)
• μαργαριτάριον (margaritárion)

Related words

• Latin margarita
• English margarite

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux