Etymologically
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μείγνυμι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /měː.ɡnyː.mi/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmi.ɣny.mi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmi.ɣny.mi/[1]

Forms

μείγνῡμῐ (meígnūmi) [1] Also written μίγνυμι (common in the manuscripts); thematic μειγνύω (Xenophon, Aristotle); the old present is μίσγω, the only one in Homer and Herodotus.[2][3] Aorist ἔμειξα, passive ἐμίγην and ἐμίχθην, perfect middle μέμιγμαι, late active perfect μέμιχα.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *meiḱ- (“to mix”).[2][3] Cognate with Lithuanian mìšras (“mixed”) and miẽšti (“to mix”).[2][3] The Homeric present μίσγω (mísgō), from *μίγσκω (*mígskō), has the same formation with -sk- as Latin misceō, Old Irish mescaid (“mixes, confuses”) and Old High German miscan.[3][2]

Greek alone has a voiced /g/ where the other languages point to /k/; since the Greek forms with /g/ are isolated, this is probably an inner-Greek change.[2][3] The present in -νυμι (-numi) is a Greek innovation, probably made from the aorist μεῖξαι (meîxai) and the future μείξω (meíxō), and Beekes doubts that the spelling μίγνυμι (mígnumi) of the manuscripts is an old zero grade.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer and Hesiod have the present μίσγω and the aorists: to mix, bring together, in battle to join (“to mix hands and might”), and in the passive to mingle with others or to lie with someone in love.[5][3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Homer the word is often military (to close in battle) and erotic (the passive “to be joined in love”, of gods and mortals), besides the plain sense of mixing liquids,[4][5] Chantraine notes the military sense especially.[3][4][5] Classical authors use it for mixing anything, for bringing people into contact or acquaintance, and in the passive for associating with others.[5][7] Many compounds share the work: with the prefixes συν-, ἐπι-, κατα- and ἀνα-.[2][3]

The family includes μεῖξις (meîxis, “mixing”), μεῖγμα (meîgma, “mixture”), μιγάς (migás, “mixed”) and the adverb ἐπιμίξ (epimíx, “mixed together”).[2] The Modern Greek verb σμίγω (smígo) continues μίσγω with the /s/ moved to the front.[8] Learned Modern Greek uses μιγνύω (mignýo) in the sense “to mix”.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use μίσγω, μεῖξαι and μιγῆναι for mixing, joining battle and union in love.[5][6]
  • 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it of a fox and an eagle joining in friendship.[5][10]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato has the present μείγνυσι, and Xenophon the thematic μειγνύω.[5][2][10]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius has the active perfect μέμιχα (in a compound).[5][2][10]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek σμίγω (smígo) continues the Homeric present μίσγω.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To mix, mingle (one thing with another).[5][2][4]
  2. To bring together, join; in a hostile sense, to join battle.[5]
  3. To bring someone into contact with something; to make acquainted.[5]
  4. (passive) To be mixed up with, mingle among; to associate with.[5][2]
  5. (passive) To have sexual intercourse, be joined in love.[5][4]
  6. (passive) To meet in battle, engage.[2][5]

Word family

  • μεῖξις (meîxis)
  • μεῖγμα (meîgma)
  • μιγάς (migás)
  • ἐπιμειξία (epimeixía)
  • συμμείγνυμι (summeígnumi)
  • ἐπιμείγνυμι (epimeígnumi)
  • μισγάγκεια (misgánkeia)
  • μιξέλλην (mixéllēn)
  • ἐπιμίξ (epimíx)

Usage notes

Korinthios gives as synonyms κεράννυμι (keránnumi), κυκάω (kukáō) and φύρω (phúrō).[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 f g h i j 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge