μεθύσκω

Forms

μεθύσκω (methúskō) ^[1] Aeolic aorist passive infinitive μεθύσθην (methústhēn) (Alcaeus).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a verb with the suffix -σκω (-skō) from Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu, “wine”), first used in the passive, "to get drunk".^[3][1] The noun is the old Indo-European word for honey and mead, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu (“honey, intoxicating drink”), which Greek kept only for wine, using μέλι (méli) for honey.^[3] Cognate with Sanskrit मधु (mádhu), Old Church Slavonic медъ (medŭ) and Lithuanian medùs "honey", and Old High German metu (“mead”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alcaeus has it first, in the passive, to get drunk.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Ionic and Attic the passive, "to drink freely, get drunk", was the usual form: Herodotus and Heraclitus use it.^[2][3][4] The active "to make drunk" is found from Plato on, often figuratively, of pleasures that make people senseless.^[3][2][5] Comedy says that Dionysus knows only how to make men drunk.^[2]

The Septuagint has the active future and aorist, and later poets use the active for giving someone drink and for soaking an altar or ashes.^[2][6] The New Testament uses only the passive, as in "do not get drunk with wine" (Ephesians 5:18).^[6]

Modern Greek μεθώ (methó) "to get drunk" was formed in medieval Greek from the related μεθύω (methúō) on the aorist stem μεθυσ-.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses the Aeolic aorist passive.^[2][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus uses the aorist passive.^[2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use the passive.^[2][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the active figuratively, of pleasures.^[2][5]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Alexis says that Dionysus knows only how to make men drunk.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament warns against getting drunk with wine.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Active) To make drunk, intoxicate; figuratively, of pleasure, wealth or beauty.^[2][5][6]
2. (Active) To give to drink; to moisten, soak.^[2]
3. (Passive) To drink freely, get drunk.^[2][6][3]

Word family

• μέθυσος (méthusos)
• μεθυστικός (methustikós)

Related words

• μέθυ (méthu)
• μεθύω (methúō)
• μέθη (méthē)
• ἀμέθυστος (améthustos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας