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σάτρα. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
σάτρα, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
σάτρα in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Ancient Greek
Alternative readings
Etymology
The existence and meaning of this word is disputed. It was interpreted by some early scholars as a phonetic rendering of an Old Persian word, possibly *xšaθram (“realm, kingdom”).[1] Only attested in a line spoken in (mock-)Persian in Aristophanes' Acharnians.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sá.tra/ → /ˈsa.tra/ → /ˈsa.tra/
Noun
σάτρα • (sátra) ? (indeclinable)
- (hapax) Persian word for gold
Usage notes
- Alternatively, Andreas Willi (2004) suggests that the wordbreak should be inserted after the sigma, yielding *ατρα. He interprets this as an Old Median reflex of Proto-Indo-Iranian *átra (“there, to that place”) (compare Avestan 𐬀𐬚𐬭𐬀 (aθra, “there, to that place”) and Sanskrit अत्र (atra, “here, in this place”)):
446 BCE – 386 BCE,
Aristophanes,
The Acharnians 100:
- Ἰ ἀρταμαν’ Ἐξαρξα ναπισσ’ ὀασ’ ἀτρα.
- hī artaman' ᵊḪšǣršā niyapiⁿθ' ovaθ' aθrā.
- The right-minded Xerxes has written thus here.
- Another proposal comes from Brandenstein and Mayrhofer (1964), who offer the following reading:
446 BCE – 386 BCE,
Aristophanes,
The Acharnians 100:
- ια ρταμανε Ξαρξα ναπισσ-ονα σατρα.
- hªya (a)rtamanā Ḫšayārša napaišuv yaunam ḫšaçam
- The rightminded Xerxes (greets) the coastal Greek realm.
References
- ^ Janda, Michael (2004) “*xšaϑra-”, in Die Sprache Der Meder (dissertation) (in German), University of Zurich, page 138: “gr. σατρα für medisch xšaϑra-”
Further reading
- Willi, Andreas (2004) “Old Persian in Athens Revisited (Ar. Ach. 100)”, in Mnemosyne, volume 57, number 6, →JSTOR, pages 657-681
- Brandenstein, Wilhelm, Mayrhofer, Manfred (1964) Handbuch Des Altpersischen, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, page 91
- “σάτρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- σάτρα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette