μύρον

Forms

μῠ́ρον (múron) n (genitive μῠ́ρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3] Beekes, following Chantraine, notes that as a culture word μύρον may well be a loan.^[2][3][4] It has traditionally been taken as Indo-European, together with σμύρις (smúris, “emery”), and compared with a Germanic and Celtic word for fat: Old High German smero (“fat, grease”) and Old Irish smi(u)r (“marrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *smer-; but this does not explain the Greek /u/.^[2][4][1] The form σμυρίζω (smurízō, “to perfume”) in Archilochus has been used to support the comparison, but its σ- may come from association with the word for emery and with σμύρνα (smúrna, “myrrh”).^[2][3] A Semitic origin, from مَرَعَ (maraʕa, “to anoint”), has been proposed and is rejected by Rosół.^[5] Ancient writers derived it from myrrh, or from the pressing out of aromatics, so that they drip.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Archilochus, in the 7th century BC, and in the Lesbian poets Sappho and Alcaeus, meaning a sweet-smelling oil or unguent.^[7][2][8]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek μύρον was perfumed oil, a mixture of oil and aromatic substances, used to anoint the body and hair, Aristophanes speaks of boiling it, and Plato of pouring it on someone's head.^[7][9] In Attic comedy τὸ μύρον was also the perfume market, where young men idled and gossiped.^[7] The proverb "perfume on lentil soup" mocked something fine wasted on a cheap thing.^[7] It formed some thirty compounds, such as μυροπώλης "perfume seller" and μυρεψός "perfume maker", and the verb μυρίζω (murízō).^[3][2] In the Gospels a woman anoints Jesus with costly μύρον from an alabaster flask.^[8]

Medieval Greek kept the word, and it continues as μύρο (míro), used of perfumes and of the holy chrism of the Church, and Chantraine also notes Modern Greek μυρίζω and μυρωδιά.^[10][11][3]

Timeline

• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it of perfumed oil.^[7][8]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho and Alcaeus use it.^[7][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Aristophanes use it; in comedy it also names the perfume market.^[7][12]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels tell of a woman anointing Jesus with μύρον.^[8]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides describes many kinds of perfumed oil.^[7]
• Modern Greek – μύρο (míro) names perfume and the holy chrism.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sweet-smelling oil, unguent, perfume.^[7][9][8]
2. The perfume market.^[7]
3. (figurative) Anything graceful or charming.^[7]

Word family

• μυρίζω (murízō)
• μυρόχριστος (murókhrīstos)
• μυρηρός (murērós)
• μυριστικός (muristikós)
• μυροφόρος (murophóros)
• μυρώδης (murṓdēs)

Related words

• σμύρις (smúris)

Usage notes

The proverb τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ φακῇ μύρον, "perfume on the lentils", was said of fine things wasted on something unworthy, and Varro used it as the title of one of his satires.^[7]

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 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
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux