Άλθη-

ἄλθη, ἄλθος

healing: neut nom /voc /acc pl (attic epic doric)

ἄλθη, ἄλθος

healing: neut nom /voc /acc dual (doric aeolic)

ἀλθῆ, ἀλθεύς

healer: masc nom /voc /acc dual

ἀλθῆ, ἀλθεύς

healer: masc acc sg

Grammatical information: v.

Meaning: `stain, soil, defile, esp. defile through bloodcrime'.

Other forms: aor. μιᾶναι, μιῆναι, pass. μιανθῆναι (Il.), fut. μιανῶ (Cyrene, Antipho), pass. fut. a. perf. μιανθήσομαι, μεμίασμαι (Att.), act. perf. μεμίαγκα (Plu.), pass. aor. subj. 3. sg. μιᾳ̃ w. fut. μιασεῖ (Cyrene; Schwyzer 743 w. n. 9 a. 786),

Compounds: Rarely w. prefix as ἐκ-, κατα- συν-. Comp. μιαι-φόνος `committing a defiling murther, stained by murther', adjunct of Ares (in E und Φ, B., Hdt., E.; μιη-φόνος Archil.) with - έω (Att.), - ία (D., D. S., Plu.). -- Isolated are w. χ-suffix (Schwyzer 498, Chantraine Form. 403f.) the expressive μίαχος μίασμα, μιαχρόν \<οὑ?\> καθαρόν H.

Derivatives: μίασμα n. `defilement, abomination, horrible stain' (IA; on the formation etc. Porzig Satzinhalte 241), μιασμός m. `defilement' (LXX, Plu.), μίανσις f. `id.' (LXX); μιάστωρ m. `defiler, avenging ghost, avenger' (trag., late prose; - σ- as in μίασμα, cf. also ἀλάστωρ and Schwyzer 531; unnecessary objections in Fraenkel Nom. ag. 2, 24); μιάντης m. `id.' (EM), ἀ-μίαν-τος `unstained' (Thgn., Pi.), w. des. of a stone = asbestos (Arist., Plin., Dsc.). -- Beside μιαρός (Il.), μιερός (Call.) `defiled, soilt, polluted, esp. through bloodcrime' with μιαρ-ία (Att.), - ότης (An. Ox.).

Origin: IE [Indo-European]X [probably] [966] * smei(d)- `semear'

Etymology: "With the r-n-change - αίνω: - αρός, μιαίνω: μιαρός ( ἰαίνω: ἱερός?; s. Fraenkel Glotta 20, 92 f. with Debrunner IF 21, 32 a. 43) follow a wellknown scheme" says Frisk; a certain non-Greek agreement is however not known; but r\/n after a is hard to explain as IE. Improbable or quite uncertain hypotheses: to Skt. mū́tram n. `urine', Av. mūÞra- n. `impureness' (Fick GGA 1881, 1427; agreeing Bechtel Lex. 227; in vowel deviating); to Lith. máiva `marsh-bottom', miẽlės `yeast', Germ., e.g. OHG meil(a) `stain, blemish' (Persson Beitr. 1, 221; the last with Grienberger and Wiedemann), to which after H. Petersson Heteroklisie 180 ff. (w. further uncertain combinations) also Arm. mic, gen. mc-i `dirt, mud' (IE *miǵ-). -- The 1. member in μιαι-φόνος is prob. as in ταλαί-πωρος to be taken as verbal (" ὁ μιαίνων φόνῳ"); beside it μιη-φόνος like Άλθη- beside Άλθαι-μένης [but this remains unexplained]; a long syllable was metr. needed. Details in Schwyzer 448. A subst. *μι(Ϝ)ᾱ, esp. with a supp. loc. μιαι- (Persson Stud. 155, Bechtel Lex. s.v. a. Dial. 3, 118f.) is not credible. -- WP. 2, 243 w. more forms, Pok. 697, Fraenkel Wb. s. máiva. - Blanc, BSL 96(2001)153-179 tries to connect Goth. bi-smeitan `besmear, strike', bur there is no certain evidence for s- in Greek, which would have unlengthened * smei-; the development of the meaning in Germanic is difficult. If there is no etymology, the word will rather be Pre-Greek. Did it have *m^ya(n)-, with palatal *m-? We know that an \/a\/ could be pronounced as [e] after a palatalized consonant; so here we may have the origin of the ε\/α- alternation in Greek.

Page in Frisk: 2,235-236