μάρτυς Ancient Greek · revision 2227

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=Before the 6th century BC, Hesiod|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /már.tys/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈmar.tys/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈmar.tys/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''μᾰ́ρτῠς''' (mártus) ''m'' or f (genitive μᾰ́ρτῠρος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Genitive μάρτυρος; accusative μάρτυρα, also μάρτυν; dative plural μάρτυσι.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ Aeolic and Doric μάρτυρ, epic and Northwest Greek μάρτυρος, Cretan and Epidaurian μαῖτυς.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is disputed.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Frisk started from a verbal noun *μάρ-τυ-, “testimony”, which then came to mean “witness”, as French [[m|fr|témoin]] comes from Latin [[m|la|testimōnium]] and English [[m|en|witness]] first meant “testimony”.^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010) He and others derive it from the Proto-Indo-European root [[m|ine-pro|*(s)mer-|t=to remember, care for]], seen in Sanskrit [[m|sa|स्मरति|tr=smárati|t=remembers]] and perhaps in [[μέριμνα|tr=mérimna|t=care]], so that the word would first have meant “remembrance”.^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Beekes objects that *smr̥-tu- would have given *βρατυ- in Greek, and considers the word Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]], since the suffixes -tu- and -r- are not Indo-European.^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014) Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as very reliable.^(PHILOGLOSSA) Le Feuvre (2021) keeps the derivation from *(s)mer- and explains the ending from a zero grade of [[m|ine-pro|*twerH-|t=to seize, bind]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The suffix -ρο- gave epic μάρτυρος, and a compromise of this with μάρτυς gave the stem μάρτυρ-.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Cretan μαῖτυς shows dissimilation.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer has only the epic form μάρτυρος.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940) Μάρτυς is first found in Hesiod's ''Works and Days'' and in the ''Homeric Hymn to Hermes''.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Gods were called on as witnesses of oaths and vows: Pindar's “let Zeus be our witness”, and in Sophocles “I call the gods to witness”.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) It also meant an eyewitness, and inanimate things or time could be witnesses: in Pindar “the days to come are the wisest witnesses”.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) In law it was a witness produced in court, as often in Plato and the orators, and the Gortyn law code has the Cretan form μαῖτυς.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) It could also be an authority cited in support.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ In the Septuagint it is a legal witness, and God as witness.^(Lust 2003) In the New Testament it keeps the legal sense, as in the rule of two or three witnesses, but the apostles are also witnesses of the resurrection, who proclaim what they have seen and heard.^(BDAG 2000)^(Spicq 1994) In Revelation it is used of a faithful witness who was killed, and so in Christian writers the word came to mean a martyr, one who bears witness with his blood.^(LSJ 1940)^(UBS 2023)^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Astrologers called planets in aspect “witnesses” of one another.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Medieval vernacular Greek used μάρτυς for a witness in court and for testimony.^(Kriaras) The everyday Modern Greek form is μάρτυρας; [[m|el|μάρτυς|tr=mártis]] survives as a learned word, as in “God is my witness”.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' use the epic form μάρτυρος.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's ''Works and Days'' has μάρτυς.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls on Zeus as witness.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of producing witnesses in court.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 1st century AD – Revelation uses it of a witness who was killed for his faith.^(LSJ 1940)^(UBS 2023)

+ * 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek uses it for a witness in court.^(Kriaras)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|witness]], especially a god invoked to witness an oath.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # An eyewitness, one present at an event.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(law)'' A witness giving testimony in court.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # An authority cited in support of something.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Christian)'' A [[m|en|martyr]].^(LSJ 1940)^(UBS 2023)

+ # ''(astrology, plural)'' Planets in aspect with one another.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[μάρτυρ|tr=mártur]]

+ * [[μαρτυρέω|tr=marturéō]]

+ * [[μαρτυρία|tr=marturíā]]

+ * [[μαρτύριον|tr=martúrion]]

+ * [[ψευδομάρτυς|tr=pseudomártus]]

+ * [[en|martyr]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ancient grammarians derived μάρτυς from [[μάρπτω|tr=márptō|t=to seize, grasp]], the witness being one who has grasped what happened.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}