Etymologically
Log in

μύρτος

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 20:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mýr.tos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmyr.tos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmyr.tos/[1]

Forms

μῠ́ρτος (múrtos) f (genitive μῠ́ρτου); second declension[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, because of the variation between ⟨μυρτ-⟩ and ⟨μυρσ-⟩, as in μυρσίνη (mursínē), a typical Pre-Greek alternation.[2][3]

Because of their likeness in sound and meaning, μύρτος, μύρρα (múrrha, “myrrh”) and μυρίκη (muríkē, “tamarisk”) have often been taken together as Semitic loans, a view going back to Lewy.[2] Chantraine sees no reason to follow it, and Rosół lists the Semitic etymology among those he rejects.[4][5] Heubeck thought that the whole group came from Asia Minor, pointing to the name Μύρσιλος (Múrsilos) on Lesbos and Hittite Muršiliš, which, as Beekes notes, does not rule out a Pre-Greek origin.[4][2][6]

Latin murtus was borrowed from it, and so were Old Armenian մուրտ (murt) and Persian مورد (murd).[2][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest attestation is in Archilochus, in the 7th century BC.[8][6]

Semantic evolution

Simonides and the drinking songs use it of the myrtle shrub, and Pindar and Aristophanes use the plural for sprigs of myrtle woven into garlands.[9][10] A 2nd-century BC inscription from Lycosura mentions it.[9][8] Later writers on agriculture use it for the myrtle-berry, otherwise μύρτον (múrton).[9]

Medieval Greek re-formed μύρτος from μύρτον, and the word survives in Cypriot.[11] The Modern Greek name of the myrtle, Modern Greek μυρτιά (mirtiá), comes from it through a medieval form with the suffix -έα.[12][6]

Timeline

  • 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it.[8][13]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Simonides uses it of the myrtle, and Pindar of sprigs of myrtle.[9][13]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes speaks of a garland of myrtles.[9][13]
  • 2nd century BC – An inscription from Lycosura in Arcadia mentions it.[9][8]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek μυρτιά (mirtiá) continues it.[12][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The myrtle, Myrtus communis.[9][10]
  2. A sprig or spray of myrtle, for garlands.[9][10]
  3. A myrtle-berry.[9]

Word family

  • μυρσίνη (mursínē)
  • μύρσινος (múrsinos)
  • μυρτίς (murtís)
  • μύρτον (múrton)
  • ἱερόμυρτος (hierómurtos)
  • κεντρομυρσίνη (kentromursínē)
  • μυρσεών (murseṓn)
  • μυρσινίτης (mursinī́tēs)
  • μυρταλίς (murtalís)
  • μυρτίδανον (murtídanon)
  • μυρτομιγής (murtomigḗs)
  • μυρτωτή (murtōtḗ)
  • ὀξυμυρσίνη (oxumursínē)
  • Latin murtus
  • Modern Greek μυρτιά (mirtiá)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b 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. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
  6. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  8. ^ a b c d Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  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