ἀμέθυστος Ancient Greek · revision 3276

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=3rd century BC, inscription from Delos|origins=ine-pro *médʰu}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.mé.tʰys.tos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /aˈme.θys.tos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /aˈme.θys.tos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ᾰ̓μέθῠστος''' (améthustos) ''m'' or f (neuter ᾰ̓μέθῠστον); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Beekes and Frisk explain it as the privative prefix with [[μέθυ|tr=méthu|t=wine]], or with the verb [[μεθύω|tr=methúō|t=to be drunk]]: “not drunken”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) The stone was named after its colour, that of red wine so diluted with water that it no longer makes one drunk, as Clausing argued.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(BDAG 2000) Others hold that it was named because it was believed to prevent drunkenness.^(Wiktionary) The DGE does not find the derivation from μέθυ convincing and thinks it probably a popular etymology of a Semitic loanword, comparing Arabic.^(DGE)

+

+ Μέθυ is inherited, from [[ine-pro|*médʰu|t=honey, mead]].^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest record is an inventory from Delos of the 3rd century BC, which lists a ring with an amethyst.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adjective “not drunk, sober” and the noun for a remedy against drunkenness are found in Plutarch, Dioscorides and Athenaeus; the name was also given to a plant used against drunkenness.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)^(Frisk 1960) As the stone, it is one of the twelve on the high priest's breastplate in the Septuagint and one of the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation.^(Lust 2003)^(BDAG 2000) Epigrams play on the stone and the sense “not drunk”, as in the one for an amethyst carved with the figure of Methe, “Drunkenness”.^(DGE)

+

+ Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|amethystus]].^(Wiktionary) Medieval and Modern Greek [[m|el|αμέθυστος|tr=améthystos]] is the stone, and as an adjective a learned word for “not drunk”.^(Kriaras)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 3rd century BC – An inventory from Delos lists a ring with an amethyst.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint lists the amethyst among the stones of the high priest's breastplate.^(Lust 2003)

+ * 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses the neuter for a remedy against drunkenness.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the adjective for “sober” and the noun for a plant.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – Revelation names the amethyst as the twelfth foundation stone of the new Jerusalem.^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Not drunk, [[m|en|sober]].^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ # Not intoxicating.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A remedy against [[m|en|drunkenness]].^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ # A plant used against drunkenness.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ # The [[m|en|amethyst]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Lust 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀμέθυσον|tr=améthuson]]

+ * [[ἀμεθύστινος|tr=amethústinos]]

+ * [[ἀμεθυστίζων|tr=amethustízōn]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[μέθυ|tr=méthu]]

+ * [[μεθύω|tr=methúō]]

+ * [[la|amethystus]]

+ * [[en|amethyst]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}