βρωτός
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
βροτόν
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
brotos
English translation (word)
mortal
Transliteration (Etymon)
brōtos
English translation (etymon)
edible
Century
11 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etymologica nominum 134
Ed.
R. Reitzenstein, M. Terentius Varro und Johannes Mauropus von Euchaita: eine Studie zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft, Leipzig: Teubner, 1901
Quotation
φθορᾶ δὲ βρωτῶν τὸν βροτὸν προσεῖπέ τις
Translation (En)
Someone said that mortals (broton) are the ones destroying edible things (brōtōn)
Parallels
There is no parallel
Modern etymology
Chantraine (1970, 197-198): Αlready in Homer, βροτός was the form opposed to ἄμβροτος, meaning ‘immortal’. It is the inherited verbal adjective of the Indo-European root *mer- meaning "to die".
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology relying on the homophony between βροτός "mortal" and βρωτός "edible" in Byzantine Greek, where vowel length is no longer phonological. Man is supposed to be the one who devours what can be eaten, thereby "destroying" it