νέκταρ

Forms

νέκτᾰρ (néktar) n (genitive νέκτᾰρος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][1] It is often explained as an old poetic compound meaning “overcoming death”, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ-tr̥h₂-,^[2][1] from the root noun *neḱ- (“death”), seen in νέκυς (nékus), νεκρός (nekrós) and Latin nex (“murder”), and the verbal root *terh₂- (“to cross, overcome”) of Sanskrit तरति (tárati, “crosses”).^[2][3] Beekes notes that the final laryngeal would have been lost only in the oblique cases (*neḱ-tr̥h₂-os > νέκταρος (néktaros)), so the nominative must have been reshaped; if the etymology is right, the word belongs to Indo-European poetic language, and Schmitt compared an Atharvaveda phrase about overcoming death by means of rice-milk.^[2] Chantraine notes that the neuter in -αρ is archaic, but calls the etymology obscure.^[3] Babiniotis also favours the compound.^[4]

Others assume a non-Indo-European origin.^[2][1] Furnée compared νικάριον (nikárion, “an eye-salve”) and other words in -αρ, so the word may be Pre-Greek.^[2][1] Drew Griffith derived it from Egyptian nṯrj (“divine”), the name of the sodium carbonate used in mummification, since in Homer nectar is dripped into the nostrils of the dead Patroclus; but this leaves the cluster /kt/ unexplained, and the Egyptian word was later borrowed as νίτρον (nítron).^[2] A Semitic etymology proposed by Levin is rejected as well.^[2][5]

The grammarian Philoxenus derived it from the negative prefix νη- and κτείνω (kteínō, “to kill”), as the drink of those who cannot be killed.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is the drink of the gods: Hebe pours it for them in the Iliad, and in the Odyssey red nectar is mixed.^[7][8] The gods also drip it with ambrosia into the bodies of Patroclus, to preserve the corpse, and of Achilles, to sustain him.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

Early epic distinguishes ἀμβροσία (ambrosíā) and nectar as the food and the drink of the gods, as Plato still does in the Phaedrus, but Alcman and the comic poet Anaxandrides speak of eating nectar.^[8][9] As the model of a delicious taste and smell it gave many figures: choice wine is a “piece broken off nectar” in the Odyssey, later poets call wine itself nectar (Callimachus, Nicander), Euripides calls honey the “nectar of bees”, and Pindar calls his ode poured nectar, a gift of the Muses.^[8][9] Epigrams use it of a perfumed unguent.^[8]

Latin borrowed it as nectar,^[10][1] from which English took nectar in the 1550s; the sense “sweet liquid in flowers” is recorded by about 1600.^[11] In Modern Greek νέκταρ (néktar) is a learned word.^[12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the drink of the gods.^[7][8]
• 7th century BC – Alcman speaks of the gods eating nectar.^[8][9][13]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls his ode poured nectar.^[8][9][13]
• 5th century BC – Euripides calls honey the nectar of bees.^[8][9][13]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it for wine.^[8][9][13]
• 1st century BC – Philoxenus derives it from νη- and κτείνω (kteínō).^[6]
• 1550s – English borrows nectar from Latin.^[11]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Nectar, the drink of the gods.^[8][9]
2. The food of the gods, in Alcman and Anaxandrides.^[8][9]
3. (figurative) A liquid as delicious as nectar: choice wine, honey, a perfumed unguent.^[8][9]
4. (figurative) Poetry or song.^[8][9]

Word family

• νεκτάρεος (nektáreos)
• νεκτάριον (nektárion)
• νεκταροσταγής (nektarostagḗs)

Related words

• ἀμβροσία (ambrosíā)
• Latin nectar
• English nectar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
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 k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge