μεῖραξ: Difference between revisions

{{etym

|etymtx=Grammatical information: f.<br />Meaning: [[girl]] (Com.), late also m. [[boy]] (Aret., Hld.).<br />Compounds: <b class="b3">φιλο-μεῖραξ</b> m. f. <b class="b2">loving boys</b> (Ath., Paus.).<br />Derivatives: Diminut. : 1. <b class="b3">μειράκιον</b> n. <b class="b2">youth, younger man</b> (Hp., Att.) with <b class="b3">μειρακι-ώδης</b> [[youthful]] (Pl., Arist.), <b class="b3">-όομαι</b> <b class="b2">become adolescent</b> (X., Ph., Ael.), <b class="b3">-εύομαι</b> <b class="b2">id., behave as a youth</b> (Arr., Plu., Luc.), also <b class="b3">μειρακ-εύομαι</b> (Alciphr. 2, 2). 2. <b class="b3">μειρακίσκος</b> m., also <b class="b3">-η</b> f. [[boy]], [[girl]] (Att.; Chantraine Form. 409). 3. <b class="b3">μειρακύλλιον</b> <b class="b2">id.</b> (Com.; cf. Leumann Glotta 32, 215 a. 225 = Kl. Schr. 242 u. 250).<br />Origin: IE [Indo-European] [738] <b class="b2">*meri̯o-</b> <b class="b2">young (girl or man)</b><br />Etymology: On the fem. gender cf. <b class="b3">δέλφαξ</b>, <b class="b3">πόρταξ</b>, <b class="b3">σκύλαξ</b> (also m.). We must start from a noun, perh. <b class="b3">*μεῖρος</b> (cf. <b class="b3">λίθαξ</b> : <b class="b3">λίθος</b> a. o.), which agrees with Skt. <b class="b2">márya-</b> m. [[youth]], [[lover]], Av. <b class="b2">mairya-</b> (meaning unclear); and, with thematic <b class="b2">k-</b>suffix (independent of <b class="b3">μεῖραξ</b> [[pace]] Wackernagel-Debrunner II: 2, 540, Chantraine Études 160 m. A.1?), <b class="b2">marya-ká-</b> <b class="b2">small man</b>. The diminutive derivv. in Greek ousted the basic word. A fem. <b class="b3">*μεῖρα</b> (like <b class="b3">στεῖρα</b>) may be also considered. -- As remote cognates are adduced Lith. <b class="b2">mergà</b> [[girl]] and, with diff. vowel, Alb. <b class="b2">shemërë</b> f. <b class="b2">by-wife</b> (from <b class="b2">*sm̥-m_erī</b>), Lith. <b class="b2">martì</b> f. <b class="b2">bride, young woman</b> (cf. <b class="b3">Βριτό-μαρτις</b>? s. v.); further still the unclear Lat. [[marītus]] <b class="b2">with wife, spouse</b>, s. W.-Hofmann s. v. Further details also in WP. 2, 281, Pok. 738f.; Fraenkel Wb. s. <b class="b2">martì</b> and <b class="b2">mergà</b>. Several hypotheses on the formation by Specht Ursprung 124, 148 a. 210.

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