Etymologically
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τυρός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /tyː.rós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /tyˈros/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /tyˈros/[1]

Forms

τῡρός (tūrós) m (genitive τῡροῦ); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tūrós, probably from Proto-Indo-European *tuh₂-ró-s, from *tewh₂- (“to swell”).[1][2] It is cognate with Avestan tūiri- (“cheese-like milk, whey”) and perhaps with a Middle Indic word for “cheese”.[2] The derivation from the root “to swell, become fat” is phonologically unproblematic; it cannot come from Proto-Indo-European *twer- (“to stir”), the root of τύρβη (túrbē), nor from Proto-Indo-European *twerH- (“to fence in”).[2] Wiktionary also compares Old English ġeþweor (“curds”) and Proto-Slavic *tvarogъ (“curd cheese”), whose relation to it is unclear.[1] It is already found in Mycenaean Greek tu-ro₂.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pylos tablets list cheeses, tu-ro₂.[3] In the Iliad goat's cheese is grated into a drink.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word means cheese throughout Ancient Greek: Semonides mentions cheese from Achaea, and Aristophanes Sicilian cheese.[4] In Lysias “the fresh cheese” names the cheese market at Athens.[4] It formed many derivatives: the verb τυρεύω (tureúō) “to make cheese”, used figuratively for concocting a plot, and the diminutive τυρίον (turíon).[2] βούτυρον (boúturon), butter, is literally “cow cheese”.[4]

The Medieval diminutive τυρί(ν), from τυρίον, became the ordinary word of Modern Greek, Modern Greek τυρί (tirí); τυρός survives only as a learned word.[6]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean – Pylos tablets list cheeses.[3]
  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of cheese.[4][7]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Semonides mentions cheese from Achaea.[4][8]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Lysias uses “the fresh cheese” for the cheese market.[4][8]
  • Medieval Greek – The diminutive τυρί(ν) is in use.[6]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek τυρί (tirí) is the ordinary word for cheese.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cheese.[4][5]
  2. (Attic) With χλωρός (khlōrós), the fresh-cheese market.[4]
  • βούτυρον (boúturon)
  • English butter

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 Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge