βρωτός

Validation

No

Last modification

Wed, 10/12/2022 - 11:20

Word-form

βροτόν

Transliteration (Word)

brotos

English translation (word)

mortal

Transliteration (Etymon)

brōtos

English translation (etymon)

edible

Author

Joannes Mauropus

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)

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

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