μανός

Seemingly from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small”). Compare μόνος (mónos). If the Proto-Hellenic form was *manwos, then the short ᾰ would be expected in Attic and the long ᾱ in Ionic; compare *ksénwos > Attic ξένος (xénos) and Ionic ξεῖνος (xeînos).

Alternatively, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”), making it cognate to Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (mins, “less”), Russian ме́нее (méneje) and Latin minuo (“lessen”), minus (“less”).

Attested with both short ᾰ and long ᾱ.

With a short vowel:

With a long vowel:

μᾱ̆νός • (mānós) m (feminine μᾱ̆νή, neuter μᾱ̆νόν); first/second declension

1. porous

   Antonym: πυκνός (puknós)

2. few, scanty

   Antonym: πυκνός (puknós)

   1. of things happening at intervals, not often
3. rare, uncommon, sparse

• “μανός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μανός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μανός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • lank idem, page 476.
  • loose idem, page 499.
  • porous idem, page 627.
  • rare idem, page 672.
  • thin idem, page 866.