νέκταρ

Of uncertain origin.

Traditionally taken as a poetic compound, from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“to perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”); thus, literally "overcoming death", and so called because it gave immortality.

However, other theories involving a non-Indo-European borrowing have been proposed. Furnee compares νικάριον (nikárion, “eye salve”), suggesting a possible Pre-Greek origin for both, while Griffith and Levin have suggested borrowings from Egyptian and Semitic, respectively. Beekes appears to be split between the Indo-European and Pre-Greek theories, while expressing skepticism about the Afro-Asiatic proposals.^[1]

νέκτᾰρ • (néktar) n (genitive νέκτᾰρος); third declension

1. nectar, the specific nourishment (drink) of the gods

• νεκτάρεος (nektáreos)

• Greek: νέκταρ (néktar)
• → Latin: nectar
  • → English: nectar
  • French: nectar
  • Italian: nettare
  • Portuguese: néctar
  • Spanish: néctar

• ἀμβροσία (ambrosía)

• “νέκταρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “νέκταρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “νέκταρ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• νέκταρ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• νέκταρ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “νέκταρ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • nectar idem, page 554.
• “νέκταρ”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

From Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar).

νέκταρ • (néktar) f (uncountable)

1. (Greek mythology) nectar (the drink of the gods)
2. (by extension) an especially delicious drink

• αμβροσία f (amvrosía, “ambrosia”)

• νέκταρ on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el