σμύρνα

Forms

σμῠ́ρνᾰ (smúrna) f (genitive σμῠ́ρνης); first declension^[1] Ionic σμύρνη (smúrnē) (Herodotus).^[2][3] From Hyperides on, inscriptions and papyri often write ζμύρνα (zmúrna), as ζ came to be written for σ before a voiced consonant.^[2][4][5]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[6][7] Beekes and Frisk, following Heubeck, take it as a back-formation from Ancient Greek Σμυρναία (Smurnaía, “the Smyrnaean”), an epithet of the older word for myrrh, μύρρα (múrrha), taken from the name of the city of Σμύρνα (Smúrna).^[2][8][1] They reject the view that it is merely a by-form of the older word, which is a Semitic loanword.^[2][8] Chantraine also thinks that the city's name helped to create it, since the initial σ- is constant, but regards it as a secondary form beside the word Sappho uses.^[6]

Rosół, on the other hand, counts both words among the early Semitic loanwords, citing Akkadian murru (“myrrh”) and the Ugaritic, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic and Arabic words for myrrh.^[7] He explains the σ- as a secondary prothesis before /m/ + vowel + /r/, as in σμάραγδος (smáragdos) beside μάραγδος (máragdos), and the ν as in σίσυρνα (sísurna) beside σισύρα (sisúra).^[7] The New Pauly also calls the word a Semitic loan.^[9]

Ancient scholars derived it from μυρίζω (murízō, “to anoint”) or from μύρον (múron, “perfume”), with an added ν and a prefixed σ.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 5th century BC, in Empedocles, Herodotus and Euripides, for myrrh, the aromatic gum of an Arabian tree.^[3][11][5] Herodotus names it among the spices that grow only in Arabia, and describes its use by Egyptian embalmers.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

Myrrh was used for embalming the dead, as a salve for wounds, in perfumed ointments and as incense, and Euripides calls it the “sweat” of the tree.^[3][5] Theophrastus and Dioscorides describe it as a drug, and the mythographers Apollodorus and Antoninus Liberalis use the word for the tree itself.^[5]

The Septuagint uses it for the Hebrew word for myrrh, in the holy anointing oil of Exodus, in the Psalms and in the Song of Songs.^[12][13] In the New Testament it is one of the gifts of the Magi in Matthew, and in John it is brought with aloes for the burial of Jesus.^[13][4] From Greek it passed into Latin smyrna and murra, into Gothic 𐍃𐌼𐍅𐍂𐌽 (smwrn), into Coptic and into Old Church Slavonic змѵрьна (zmürĭna).^[14][1][15]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it for the resin burnt as incense or used in embalming and medicine.^[16] Modern Greek uses σμύρνα (smýrna) as a learned word for the resin.^[17][6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Empedocles, Herodotus and Euripides use it for myrrh.^[3][11][18]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes speaks of a man anointed with myrrh.^[5][18]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri spell it ζμύρνα (zmúrna).^[5][4]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels name it among the gifts of the Magi and among the spices for the burial of Jesus.^[13][4]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides describes it as a drug.^[5][18]
• About AD 300 – The oldest Coptic manuscripts with the borrowed word date from this time.^[15]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek also has a form μύρνα (mýrna).^[16]
• Modern Greek – The learned σμύρνα (smýrna) names the aromatic resin.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. Myrrh, the gum of an Arabian tree, used for embalming, salves, perfumes and incense.^[5][3][4]
2. The myrrh tree itself.^[5]
3. Indian bdellium, false myrrh.^[1]

Word family

• σμυρναῖος (smurnaîos)
• σμύρνινος (smúrninos)
• σμύρνιον (smúrnion)
• σμυρνόω (smurnóō)

Related words

• μύρρα (múrrha)
• Σμύρνα (Smúrna)
• Latin murra
• Latin smyrna

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ a b c d Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
8. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
12. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
13. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
14. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
15. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
16. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
17. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
18. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge