μόρα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From μείρομαι (meíromai, “receive one's share”) +‎ -ᾱ (-ā).

Pronunciation

Noun

μόρᾱ • (mórā) f (genitive μόρᾱς); first declension

1. mora (a division of the Spartan army, varying in strength, at first six in number)
   • 394–371 BC, Xenophon, Λακεδαιμονίων Πολιτεία in Xenophontis Opera Omnia, volume V (1920), chapter xi, § 4:

     οὕτω γε μὴν κατεσκευασμένων μόρας μὲν διεῖλεν ἓξ καὶ ἱππέων καὶ ὁπλιτῶν. ἑκάστη δὲ τῶν ὁπλιτικῶν μορῶν ἔχει πολέμαρχον ἕνα, λοχαγοὺς τέτταρας, πεντηκοντῆρας ὀκτώ, ἐνωμοτάρχους ἑκκαίδεκα. ἐκ δὲ τούτων τῶν μορῶν διὰ παρεγγυήσεως καθίστανται τοτὲ μὲν εἰς … ἐνωμοτίας, τοτὲ δὲ εἰς τρεῖς, τοτὲ δὲ εἰς ἕξ.

     hoútō ge mḕn kateskeuasménōn móras mèn dieîlen hèx kaì hippéōn kaì hoplitôn. hekástē dè tôn hoplitikôn morôn ékhei polémarkhon héna, lokhagoùs téttaras, pentēkontêras oktṓ, enōmotárkhous hekkaídeka. ek dè toútōn tôn morôn dià parenguḗseōs kathístantai totè mèn eis … enōmotías, totè dè eis treîs, totè dè eis héx.

     The men so equipped were divided into six regiments of cavalry and infantry. The officers of each citizen regiment comprise one colonel, four captains, eight first lieutenants and sixteen second lieutenants. These regiments at the word of command form sections sometimes (two), sometimes three, and sometimes six abreast. ― translation from: Edgar Cardew Marchant, Xenophon in Seven Volumes, volume VII: Scripta Minora (1925), Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, chapter xi, § 4

   • 362–354 BC, Xenophon, Ἑλληνικά in Xenophontis Opera Omnia, volume I (1900), Ἑλληνικῶν Β, chapter iv, § 31:

     πέμπων δὲ πρέσβεις ὁ Παυσανίας πρὸς τοὺς ἐν Πειραιεῖ ἐκέλευεν ἀπιέναι ἐπὶ τὰ ἑαυτῶν: ἐπεὶ δ᾽ οὐκ ἐπείθοντο, προσέβαλλεν ὅσον ἀπὸ βοῆς ἕνεκεν, ὅπως μὴ δῆλος εἴη εὐμενὴς αὐτοῖς ὤν. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς προσβολῆς πράξας ἀπῆλθε, τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ λαβὼν τῶν μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων δύο μόρας, τῶν δὲ Ἀθηναίων ἱππέων τρεῖς φυλάς, παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν κωφὸν λιμένα, σκοπῶν πῇ εὐαποτειχιστότατος εἴη ὁ Πειραιεύς.

     pémpōn dè présbeis ho Pausanías pròs toùs en Peiraieî ekéleuen apiénai epì tà heautôn: epeì d᾽ ouk epeíthonto, proséballen hóson apò boês héneken, hópōs mḕ dêlos eíē eumenḕs autoîs ṓn. epeì d᾽ oudèn apò tês prosbolês práxas apêlthe, têi husteraíāi labṑn tôn mèn Lakedaimoníōn dúo móras, tôn dè Athēnaíōn hippéōn treîs phulás, parêlthen epì tòn kōphòn liména, skopôn pêi euapoteikhistótatos eíē ho Peiraieús.

     Then, sending ambassadors to the men in Piraeus, Pausanias bade them disperse to their homes; and when they refused to obey, he attacked them, at least so far as to raise the war-cry, in order that it might not be evident that he felt kindly toward them. And when he had retired without accomplishing anything by his attack, on the next day he took two regiments of the Lacedaemonians and three tribes of the Athenian cavalry and proceeded along the shore to the Still Harbour, looking to see where Piraeus could best be shut off by a wall. ― translation from: Carleton Lewis Brownson, Xenophon in Seven Volumes, volume I: Hellenica I–IV (1918), book II, chapter iv, § 31

Declension

Descendants

• English: mora
• Latin: mora

References

• “μόρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μόρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μόρα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• μόρα in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften