μαίανδρος Ancient Greek · revision 3234

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=eponym|attested=Hellenistic period|origins=grc Μαίανδρος}}

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''μαίανδρος''' (maíandros) ''m'' (genitive μαιάνδρου); second declension^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the name of the river [[Μαίανδρος|tr=Maíandros|t=Maeander]] in Caria, famous for its windings, used as a common noun.^(LSJ 1940)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Etymonline) The origin of the river name is uncertain.^(Wiktionary)^(Onomata)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The river is named in the ''Iliad'' and in Hesiod's ''Theogony'', and Herodotus notes its windings.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) As a common noun it first appears in the Hellenistic period, in the ''Letter of Aristeas'', for a winding ornamental pattern.^(LSJ 1940)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Strabo and Josephus also use it for the winding pattern, and Philostratus for the windings of a stream.^(LSJ 1940)^(Etymonline) The Greeks used the river's name figuratively for such patterns, and Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|maeander]].^(Etymonline)

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+ English took ''meander'' from Latin in the 1570s, first in the sense “confusion, intricacy”; it has been used for the course of a river since the 1590s.^(Etymonline) Modern Greek [[m|el|μαίανδρος|tr=maíandros]] is a learned word for the meander or key pattern, the bends of a river, and figuratively anything convoluted.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' names the river Maeander.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus notes the windings of the river.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * Hellenistic period – The ''Letter of Aristeas'' uses it for a winding pattern.^(LSJ 1940)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+ * 1st century BC – 1st century AD – Strabo uses it for a winding pattern.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus uses it for the windings of water.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1570s – English borrows ''meander'' from Latin.^(Etymonline)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A winding ornamental pattern, a [[m|en|meander]] or key pattern.^(LSJ 1940)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+ # A winding, a bend, as of a stream.^(LSJ 1940)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Μαίανδρος|tr=Maíandros]]

+ * [[la|maeander]]

+ * [[en|meander]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}