μύρον

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 12 August 2015

Etymology

A Kulturwort which spread to various other languages, of disputed origin:

• Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *smer- (“to anoint, smear”), along with σμύρις (smúris, “emery”), and connected with Proto-Indo-European *smérus (“grease”) (whence Old High German smero (“fat, smear”)); however, this cannot explain the υ (u) in the Greek form.
• From μύρω (múrō, “to flow, trickle”) according to the Ancients, and from μύρρα (múrrha, “sweet cicely; myrrh”) according to Athenaeus. Thus, probably a foreign borrowing; compare Hebrew מֹר (mōr).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mý.ron/ → /ˈmy.ron/ → /ˈmi.ron/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mý.ron/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmy.ron/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmy.ron/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmy.ron/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ron/

Noun

μῠ́ρον • (múron) n (genitive μῠ́ρου); second declension

1. any sweet juice distilled from plants and used for unguents or perfumes
2. unguent, sweet oil, perfume, balsam
   • 680 BCE – 645 BCE, Archilochus, Collected Works 27
   1. chrism; muron
   2. place where unguents were sold, perfumery
      • 424 BCE, Aristophanes, The Knights I375
   3. (figurative) anything graceful, charming, lovely
      • Palatine Anthology 5.90

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ μῠ́ρον; τοῦ μῠ́ρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ μῠ́ρον tò múron	τὼ μῠ́ρω tṑ múrō	τᾰ̀ μῠ́ρᾰ tà múra
Genitive	τοῦ μῠ́ρου toû múrou	τοῖν μῠ́ροιν toîn múroin	τῶν μῠ́ρων tôn múrōn
Dative	τῷ μῠ́ρῳ tôi múrōi	τοῖν μῠ́ροιν toîn múroin	τοῖς μῠ́ροις toîs múrois
Accusative	τὸ μῠ́ρον tò múron	τὼ μῠ́ρω tṑ múrō	τᾰ̀ μῠ́ρᾰ tà múra
Vocative	μῠ́ρον múron	μῠ́ρω múrō	μῠ́ρᾰ múra
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μῠρηρός (murērós)
• μῠρῐστῐκός (muristikós)
• μῠρόχρῑστος (murókhrīstos)
• μῠροφόρος (murophóros)
• μυρώδης (murṓdēs)

Descendants

• Aramaic:
  • → Classical Syriac: ܡܘܪܘܢ (mūrōn)
• → English: muron
• → Georgian: მირონი (mironi)
• → Old Armenian: միւռոն (miwṙon)
  • Armenian: մյուռոն (myuṙon)
• → Old East Slavic: мѵро (müro)
  • → Belarusian: мі́ра (míra)
  • → Russian: ми́ро (míro)
  • → Ukrainian: ми́ро (mýro)
• → Romanian: mir
• →⇒ Serbo-Croatian: miris

Further reading

• “μύρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μύρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μύρον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• G3464 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • balm idem, page 60.
  • balsam idem, page 60.
  • essence idem, page 283.
  • nard idem, page 550.
  • oil idem, page 572.
  • ointment idem, page 572.
  • perfume idem, page 607.
  • salve idem, page 732.
  • scent idem, page 738.
  • unguent idem, page 920.