τίτθη

Forms

τῐ́τθη (títthē) f (genitive τῐ́τθης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a hypocoristic short form from Ancient Greek τιθήνη (tithḗnē, “wet nurse”), with expressive doubling of the /t/ and without the nasal suffix.^[2][3][4] Chantraine notes that the more expressive τίτθη seems to have been the commoner word.^[3]

That noun is itself a word of the nursery: a reduplicated formation from the middle aorist θῆσθαι (thêsthai, “to suck”), with the suffix of γαλαθηνός (galathēnós, “suckling”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck”).^[2][3][1] Wiktionary compares θηλή (thēlḗ, “teat”) and θῆλυς (thêlus, “female”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the comedies of Aristophanes (5th–4th century BC), in the Knights, the Lysistrata and the Thesmophoriazusae, meaning a nurse, usually a slave.^[5][6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Plato, Aeschines, Demosthenes, Aristotle and Theophrastus use it in the same sense, and it appears on an inscription of the 3rd century BC.^[7][6] Wet-nurses became more common in the classical period; the τίτθη was usually a slave, though in Athens some free or freed women, usually foreigners, did the work.^[9] Plutarch names τίτθαι together with the τροφοί, the nurses who brought up a child.^[6]

Aristotle also uses it for the mother's breast, the meaning of τιτθός (titthós).^[6][2] It was sometimes confused with τήθη (tḗthē, “grandmother”).^[6] Variant spellings are τιθή in Hesychius and τίθθη in a comic papyrus of the 5th century AD.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of a nurse.^[6][7][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it in the Republic.^[6][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the mother's breast.^[6][2][8]
• 3rd century BC – It appears on an inscription.^[6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch names τίτθαι beside τροφοί.^[6][8]
• 5th century AD – A comic papyrus spells it τίθθη.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nurse, properly a wet nurse, usually a slave.^[6][7]
2. The mother's breast.^[6][2]

Word family

• τιτθεύω (titthéuō)
• τιτθεία (titthéia)
• τιτθός (titthós)

Related words

• τιθήνη (tithḗnē)
• θηλή (thēlḗ)
• θῆλυς (thêlus)

Usage notes

The grammarian Ammonius distinguishes the τίτθη, who gives the breast, from the τροφός (trophós) and the τιθηνός, who look after the child in other ways and after it is weaned.^[3][4] Photius glosses τίτθη with τροφός.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 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. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)