ἄρταμος

Originally explained as a haplology of *ἀρτί-ταμος (*artí-tamos) or *ἀρτό-ταμος (*artó-tamos), with the meaning "artful cutting". However, this explanation makes little sense and DELG objects that -τομος should be expected, instead of -ταμος. Furnée thinks it is a Pre-Greek word; compare however Classical Syriac ܩܰܪܛܶܡ (qarṭem, “to cut short, to trim”): the abundance of such roots like ق ر ط (q r ṭ) and ق ر ض (q r ḍ) across Semitic, as well the consideration that butchers probably were institutionalized earlier in the Orient, may suggest a Semitic borrowing. Similarly, Arabic قَصَّاب (qaṣṣāb, “butcher”) has been borrowed from the Aramaic language which ruled in the area in question.

ἄρτᾰμος • (ártămos) m (genitive ἀρτᾰ́μου); second declension

1. butcher, cook

   Synonym: μᾰ́γειρος (mắgeiros)

2. (figuratively) murderer

• “ἄρταμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἄρταμος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄρταμος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• 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