ἀμέρδω

Forms

ἀμέρδω (amérdō) ^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] Beekes suggests that, if the form without the initial vowel is secondary, the verb is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂merd- (“to cause injury”).^[4][1] The LIV sets up this root with the meaning “to do harm, mistreat” and takes ἀμέρδω as its full-grade present Proto-Indo-European *h₂mérd-e-, with the aorist ἄμερσα (ámersa) as an old sigmatic aorist.^[5]

Cognates on this view are Sanskrit मृद्नाति (mṛdnāti, “crushes, grinds”), Old Avestan mōrəṇdat̰ (“destroys”), Latin mordeō (“to bite”) and Old English smeortan (“to cause pain”), whose initial s- is a Germanic addition.^[4][5] Frisk thought the link with the Sanskrit verb at most possible, and Chantraine regards the etymology as unsettled.^[3][2] Hesychius records a form without the initial vowel, μέρδει (mérdei), glossed “hinders, harms”; it is unclear whether it is the older form or a secondary one.^[2][3] Beekes considers the verb perhaps related to ἀμείρω (ameírō), a present of the same meaning in Pindar.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Homer, meaning to deprive someone of something, usually of what is theirs by right: life, sight, a share of a feast.^[6][7][2] The Iliad also uses it of flashing bronze that blinds the eyes, and the Odyssey of smoke that tarnishes weapons.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb is epic and poetic, rare in tragedy and never used in Attic prose.^[8] Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter use it with a genitive of what is taken away or with a double accusative, and Pindar of a man robbed of his homeland.^[8][7] Euripides once uses the active in a passive sense, “to lose” one's life.^[8][7]

In late poetry it is used like ἀμέργω (amérgō), “to pluck” flowers.^[8][9] Its few derivatives are late: ἄμερσις (ámersis) in Eustathius and a plant name in Dioscorides.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for depriving someone of life, sight or a share, for dazzling the eyes and for tarnishing weapons.^[6][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of the dazzling flash of lightning.^[7][8][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of a man deprived of his homeland.^[8][9]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses the active with the sense “to lose” one's life.^[8][7][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To deprive or rob someone of something, especially of what is theirs by right; in the passive, to be bereft of.^[8][7][6]
2. To take away, snatch a prize or cattle.^[7]
3. To dazzle or blind the eyes, of flashing bronze or lightning.^[7][6]
4. To rob of lustre, tarnish, of smoke on weapons.^[7][6]
5. To lose one's life.^[7][8]
6. (late poetry) To pluck flowers.^[8]

Usage notes

Hesychius explains the aorist as “made without a share, deprived”, and also as “dimmed”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ a b c d e f Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge