Etymologically
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οὖθαρ

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ûː.tʰar/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈu.θar/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈu.θar/[1]

Forms

οὖθᾰρ (oûthar) n (genitive οὔθᾰτος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is an old inherited word for the udder, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ówHdʰr̥ (“udder”).[2][1] It continues an r/n-stem, still seen in Sanskrit ऊधर् (ū́dhar), genitive ऊधन् (ū́dhnas).[2][3] Latin ūber and the Germanic words generalized the r-stem, and the Latin word also became an adjective, “rich, fertile”.[2]

Cognate with Old English ūder (English udder), Middle High German ūter and Old Norse júgr.[2][1] The variation at the start of these words points to an old ablaut *HeuHdʰ-, *HouHdʰ-, *HuHdʰ-, and Schindler took them as a Proto-Indo-European static heteroclitic noun.[2] To explain the Greek form without the inner laryngeal, scholars assume the Saussure effect, the loss of a laryngeal after an o-grade root with a resonant.[2]

The grammarian Philoxenus derived the word from a root “to feed, suckle” with an added syllable ου-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Homer: the Odyssey uses it of an animal's udder, and in the Iliad the phrase οὖθαρ ἀρούρης, “the udder of the ploughland”, names the richest soil.[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged to animals, in Herodotus and Theocritus, and Aristotle has the phrase καθιέναι τὸ οὖθαρ, “to let down the udder”.[3] Its Homeric metaphor for fertile land returns in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, in Cratinus and in Aristophanes.[3][5] In the Libation Bearers Aeschylus uses it of a woman's breast, and Plutarch distinguishes animals' udders from women's breasts; udders were also eaten as a dish.[3][5] A late epigram transfers the image to the vine, milked by autumn from the “udder” of its grapes.[3]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of the richest land, the Odyssey of an animal's udder.[3][5]
  • 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Demeter repeats the phrase “udder of the ploughland”.[3][6]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of a woman's breast.[3][5][7]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of animals' udders.[3][7]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in describing the milking of animals.[3][7]
  • 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch distinguishes the udders of animals from women's breasts.[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The udder of a female animal, especially one kept for milk.[3][5]
  2. Udder eaten as a dish.[3]
  3. A woman's breast or teat.[3][5]
  4. (figurative) In οὖθαρ ἀρούρης, “udder of the ploughland”, the richest, most fertile land.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge