μυρίκη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The suffix -ίκη (-íkē) as in ἑλίκη (helíkē) and ἀδίκη (adíkē) is accused of Pre-Greek origin. However, already Lewy saw a Semitic origin, connecting the word because of the bitterants in the plant species to Arabic مُرّ (murr, bitter) and Hebrew מֹר (mor, bitterness, acrimony). Recognizing an identity with Latin tamarīx (tamarisk), various combinations of Afroasiatic origin become supportable, particularly – following Schuchardt – that the Latin form contains a Berber ta- singulative and feminine formant.

Pronunciation

 

Noun

μυρίκη • (muríkē) f (genitive μυρίκης); first declension

  1. tamarisk (plant of the genus Tamarix)

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Latin: myrīcē
  • Translingual: Myrica

References

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.