μυρίκη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The suffix -ίκη (-íkē) as in ἑλίκη (helíkē) and ἀδίκη (adíkē) is accused of Pre-Greek origin. However, already Lewy saw a Semitic origin, connecting the word because of the bitterants in the plant species to Arabic مُرّ (murr, “bitter”) and Hebrew מֹר (mor, “bitterness, acrimony”). Recognizing an identity with Latin tamarīx (“tamarisk”), various combinations of Afroasiatic origin become supportable, particularly – following Schuchardt – that the Latin form contains a Berber ta- singulative and feminine formant.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /my.rí.kɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /myˈri.ke̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /myˈri.ci/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /myˈri.ci/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /miˈri.ci/

Noun

μυρίκη • (muríkē) f (genitive μυρίκης); first declension

tamarisk (plant of the genus Tamarix)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ μυρίκη; τῆς μυρίκης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ μυρίκη hē muríkē	τὼ μυρίκᾱ tṑ muríkā	αἱ μυρίκαι hai muríkai
Genitive	τῆς μυρίκης tês muríkēs	τοῖν μυρίκαιν toîn muríkain	τῶν μυρικῶν tôn murikôn
Dative	τῇ μυρίκῃ têi muríkēi	τοῖν μυρίκαιν toîn muríkain	ταῖς μυρίκαις taîs muríkais
Accusative	τὴν μυρίκην tḕn muríkēn	τὼ μυρίκᾱ tṑ muríkā	τᾱ̀ς μυρίκᾱς tā̀s muríkās
Vocative	μυρίκη muríkē	μυρίκᾱ muríkā	μυρίκαι muríkai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἀγριομυρίκη (agriomuríkē)
Μυρικαῖος (Murikaîos)
μυρικίνεος (murikíneos)
μυρίκινος (muríkinos)
μυρικώδης (murikṓdēs)

Descendants

→ Latin: myrīcē
→ Translingual: Myrica

References

“μυρίκη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
μυρίκη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
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
Lewy, Heinrich (1895) Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (in German), Berlin: R. Gaertner’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 44
Schuchardt, Hugo (1909) “Zur Wortgeschichte: 1. Lat. buda; tamarix; mlat. tagantes”, in Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie‎ (in German), volume 33, Halle: Max Niemeyer, page 351
Schuchardt, Hugo (1918) Die romanischen Lehnwörter im Berberischen (Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften; 188, IV^th treatise)‎ (in German), Wien: In Kommission bei Alfred Hölder, page 16