Etymologically
Log in

μηρός

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 20:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mɛː.rós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /miˈros/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /miˈros/[1]

Forms

μηρός (mērós) m (genitive μηροῦ); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *mḗros, whose further origin is uncertain.[1] Beekes starts from a form Proto-Indo-European *mēs-ro- without the nasal, built on the Indo-European word for “flesh, meat”, *mē(m)s-.[2][3] The older plural μῆρα (mêra), a collective neuter, may match Latin membra (“limbs”) exactly, from *mēmsra or *mēsra.[4][2] Following Vine, Beekes takes this plural as an old collective plural *mēms-reh₂, though Greek would then have been expected to develop a form with ⟨μβρ⟩.[2]

Cognate with Old Irish mír (“piece, morsel”) and, through the word for meat, with Tocharian B mīsa (“meat”).[2][4] Beekes rejects a link with μῆνιγξ (mêninx) “membrane”, which Babiniotis accepts.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, meaning the thigh: a warrior draws his sword from beside his thigh, and men strike their thighs in agitation.[6][7] Homer also uses it of the thigh-bones of sacrificial animals, cut out and burned for the gods.[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The thigh pieces of victims wrapped in fat were the gods' share of a sacrifice, a use that continues in tragedy and comedy; the derivative μηρία (mēría) names the same offering.[6][4][8] Chantraine notes that μηρός is used of people and animals alike, whereas κωλῆ (kōlê) “ham” is said only of animals, and that the thigh is kept distinct from the ἰσχίον (iskhíon), the hip joint.[4]

Medical writers use it of the thigh-bone, and Herodotus of the leg-bones of a camel.[6] The New Testament uses it once, in Revelation.[9] Medieval Greek also had a form μῆρος, its accent shifted for the metre.[10][11] Modern Greek keeps μηρός (mirós) for the thigh as a learned word, with the derivative μηριαίος.[12][5]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of a man's thigh and of the thigh-bones burned in sacrifice.[6][7]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses the plural.[6][13]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the leg-bones of a camel; the Hippocratic writers of the thigh-bone.[6][13]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of a man striking his thigh.[6][13]
  • 1st century AD – The Book of Revelation uses it.[9]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for the thigh.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The thigh of a person or a god; of animals.[6][8]
  2. The thigh-bone; in the plural, the thigh-bones of a sacrificial victim offered to the gods.[6][8]
  3. In general, a leg-bone.[6]
  • μῆρα (mêra)
  • μηρία (mēría)
  • μηρίον (mēríon)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  8. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b 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
  10. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  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 c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge