μῆνιγξ

Forms

μῆνῐγξ (mêninx) f (genitive μήνῐγγος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of the unexplained /n/ and the suffix -ιγξ (-inx), which is typical of Pre-Greek words.^[2][3] He notes the striking parallel in meaning with Latin membrāna (“thin skin”) and Slavic words for the inner side of a hide, such as Russian мездра (mezdrá), which go back to Proto-Indo-European *mēms- (“meat”), but finds that μῆνιγξ cannot be joined to them.^[2][1]

Ancient writers derived it from μένω (ménō, “to stay”), because the brain stays inside the membranes (Soranus), or from μή (mḗ, “not”) and νύσσω (nússō, “to prick”), a place one must not prick (John Mauropus).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 5th century BC: Empedocles uses it in the plural of the membranes of the eye, and the Hippocratic treatises use it of a membrane, especially the one around the brain.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle uses it of the membrane of the eye, of the eardrum and of the membrane enclosing the brain, the dura mater, and Galen and the later medical writers keep the anatomical sense, often in the plural.^[5][2] Hesychius records a separate sense, the skin that forms on milk.^[5]

The medical Latin New Latin meninx, from the Greek stem μηνιγγ- (mēning-), gave the English words meninges (1610s, through French or directly) and meningitis (coined in 1825).^[8] Modern Greek uses it as a learned word, Modern Greek μήνιγγα (míninga).^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Empedocles uses it of the membranes of the eye, and the Hippocratic corpus of the membrane of the brain.^[5][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the eye, the eardrum and the dura mater.^[5]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Soranus derives it from μένω (ménō), because the brain remains inside it.^[4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it, also in the plural, of the brain's membranes.^[5]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as the skin on milk.^[5]
• 1610s – English borrows meninges.^[8]
• 1825 – English coins meningitis from the stem.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It is used as the learned word Modern Greek μήνιγγα (míninga).^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A membrane or thin skin.^[5][2]
2. (anatomy) The membrane enclosing the brain, the dura mater; in the plural, the brain's membranes.^[5]
3. (anatomy) A membrane of the eye; the eardrum.^[5][6]
4. The skin on milk.^[5]

Word family

• μηνίγγιον (mēníngion)
• μηνιγγοφύλαξ (mēningophúlax)

Related words

• English meninges
• English meningitis

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 Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki