μῆχος

Forms

μῆχος (mêkhos) n (genitive μήχους or μήχεος); third declension^[1] Doric μᾶχος (mâkhos).^[2][3]

Etymology

An old neuter s-stem, the poetic companion of μηχανή (mēkhanḗ) “means, contrivance”.^[2][4][5] Chantraine and Frisk explain both from an ancient heteroclitic noun, reconstructed as μῆχαρ (mêkhar) with an n-stem genitive: the n-stem was generalised in the longer noun, and μῆχος is the s-stem that often stands beside such nouns.^[4][5]

Since Bopp and Osthoff the group has been compared with Germanic and Slavic verbs meaning “be able”, which have a short vowel: Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌲 (mag) “I can”, Russian могу́ (mogú), and the nouns Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts) and German Macht “power”.^[4][5][6] The Greek long vowel would then be a lengthened grade of a root that Pokorny writes Proto-Indo-European *magʰ- and Wiktionary Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- “to be able”.^[6][1] Chantraine rejects a rival comparison with Lithuanian mókėti “to know how”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it in the sense “a means, a way out”, always in negative or doubtful statements: in the Iliad Nestor complains that the Greeks can find no “means” of ending the war, and in the Odyssey Odysseus can find none to undo the slaughter of the Sun's cattle.^[7][8][2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed poetic and Ionic.^[8][2] Herodotus uses it of a remedy for a misfortune, Euripides has a “remedy for troubles” in a lyric passage of the Andromache, and Theocritus a remedy for sickness, where some manuscripts give the Doric form μᾶχος.^[8][2] With an infinitive it means a way of doing something, as in Lycophron: “there will be no means of helping the fatherland”.^[8] Prose used μηχανή (mēkhanḗ) instead, and the ancient lexica explain μῆχος by its derivative μηχάνημα “contrivance”.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a means of escape or of setting things right.^[7][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of a remedy for a misfortune, and Euripides of a remedy for troubles.^[8][2][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it of a cure for sickness.^[8][2][11]
• 3rd century BC – Lycophron uses it with an infinitive, “a means of helping”.^[8][11]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses the Homeric word as “contrivance”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A means, way or possibility of doing something, with an infinitive.^[2][8]
2. A remedy or expedient for a difficulty, with a genitive of the trouble or sickness.^[2][8][7]

Related words

• μηχανή (mēkhanḗ)
• μῆχαρ (mêkhar)

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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d 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 c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
10. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge