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ῥέθος. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
ῥέθος, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
ῥέθος in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
ῥέθος you have here. The definition of the word
ῥέθος will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
ῥέθος, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Ancient Greek
Etymology
Since the meaning "face, countenance", given as Aeolic by grammarians, is certain, we have to depart from this when explaining the word. Both an older Epic meaning "mouth" and "figure, body" seems possible (compare Latin ōs (“mouth; face”) and faciēs (“figure; face”)). An original meaning "nostril(s)" fits well, and the transition to "face, body" is unproblematic. The word has no convincing etymology. The lack of the ϝ- in Aeolic makes a connection with Sanskrit वर्धते (vardhate, “to grow, thrive”) difficult. Fraenkel's suggestion to connect ῥίς (rhís, “nose, snout”) and ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”) is neither morphologically nor semantically convincing.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /r̥é.tʰos/ → /ˈre.θos/ → /ˈre.θos/
Noun
ῥέθος • (rhéthos) n (genitive ῥέθεος); third declension
- (usually in the plural) limb, member
- Synonyms: κῶλον (kôlon), μέλος (mélos)
- (in the singular) face, countenance
Inflection
Derived terms
Further reading
- “ῥέθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “ῥέθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “ῥέθος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- ῥέθος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- ῥέθεα 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