μέρμερος

Under μέριμνα (mérimna, “care, thought, solicitude”), the primary thematic root-verb Sanskrit स्मरति (smarati, “to remember, recall”), Avestan 𐬨𐬁𐬭𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬙𐬌 (māraiieⁱti, “to remember”) was adduced. The length of the vowel in μέρμηρα (mérmēra, “care, trouble”), was explained by Frisk from the verb μερμηρίζω (mermērízō), where he ascribed it to the meter. Yet, this is no sufficient explanation: the interchange ε/η rather points to Pre-Greek origin, according to Beekes.

μέρμερος • (mérmeros) m or f (neuter μέρμερον); second declension

1. mischievous, baneful
2. (of persons) captious, fastidious

• “μέρμερος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μέρμερος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “μέρμερος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• μέρμερος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• μέρμερος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN