Βριτό-μαρτις

Meaning: Surname of Artemis on Crete (inscr., Str.), also a goddess or nymphe on Crete, Dreros (Call. Dian. 190).

Other forms: Also Βριτόμαρπις, - μάρπεια (Crete).

Derivatives: Βριτομάρτια n. pl. feast on Delos (inscr.).

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]

Etymology: Acc. to Marinatos Άρχ. Δελτ. 9, 79ff. to Μάρπησσα, name of a divinity in Aetolia. Wahrmann, Glotta 19, 170 thinks - μαρπις is the original form (but that Βριτόμαρτις is due to dissimilation is improbable); thus Guarducci, Inscr. Cr. 1, 35. Also Βρυτόμαρτις (Wahrmann l.c.). - Acc. to Solin. 11, 8 = `dulcis virgo', which seems confirmed by the gloss. Latte thinks that the gloss may have been invented secondarily to explain the name, but R. A. Brown, Pre-Greek Speech on Crete, 1985, 41 rightly objects that the υ-stem is not accounted for in this way. IE etymologies are useless. For π\/τ Fur. 166 compares Πανοπεύς \/ Φανοτεύς see also his p. 389; a variation ι\/υ is known from Pre-Greek.

Grammatical information: adj.

Meaning: γλυκύ. Κρῆτες H.

Compounds: Βριτό-μαρτις surname of Artemis on Crete (inscr., Str.), also a goddess or nymphe on Crete (Dreros) (Call. Dian. 190); Βριτομάρτια n. pl. feast on Delos (inscr.). Also Βριτόμαρπις, - μάρπεια (Crete). Acc. to Marinatos Άρχ. Δελτ. 9, 79ff. to Μάρπησσα, name of a divinity in Aetolia. Wahrmann. Glotta 19, 170 thinks - μαρπις is the original form (but that Βριτόμαρτις is due to dissimilation is improbable); thus Guarducci, Inscr. Cr. 1, 35. Also Βρυτόμαρτις (Wahrmann l.c.). - Acc. to Solin. 11, 8 = `dulcis virgo', which seems confirmed by the gloss. Latte thinks that the gloss may have been invented secondarily to explain the name, but R. A. Brown. Pre-Greek Speech on Crete, 1985, 41 rightly objects that the υ-stem is not accounted for in this way. IE etymologies are useless. For π\/τ Fur. 166 compares Πανοπεύς \/ Φανοτεύς, see also his p. 389; a variation ι\/υ is known from Pre-Greek.

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]

Etymology: Unknown. - Ιμπροβαβλε Magnien ( Glotta 21, 178).

Page in Frisk: 1,269

Grammatical information: f.

Meaning: `girl' (Com.), late also m. `boy' (Aret., Hld.).

Compounds: φιλο-μεῖραξ m. f. `loving boys' (Ath., Paus.).

Derivatives: Diminut.: 1. μειράκιον n. `youth, younger man' (Hp., Att.) with μειρακι-ώδης `youthful' (Pl., Arist.), - όομαι `become adolescent' (X., Ph., Ael.), - εύομαι `id., behave as a youth' (Arr., Plu., Luc.), also μειρακ-εύομαι (Alciphr. 2, 2). 2. μειρακίσκος m., also -η f. `boy, girl' (Att.; Chantraine Form. 409). 3. μειρακύλλιον `id.' (Com.; cf. Leumann Glotta 32, 215 a. 225 = Kl. Schr. 242 u. 250).

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [738] *meri̯o- `young (girl or man)'

Etymology: On the fem. gender cf. δέλφαξ, πόρταξ, σκύλαξ (also m.). We must start from a noun, perh. *μεῖρος (cf. λίθαξ: λίθος a. o.), which agrees with Skt. márya- m. `youth, lover', Av. mairya- (meaning unclear); and, with thematic k-suffix (independent of μεῖραξ pace Wackernagel-Debrunner II: 2, 540, Chantraine Études 160 m. A.1?), marya-ká- `small man'. The diminutive derivv. in Greek ousted the basic word. A fem. *μεῖρα (like στεῖρα) may be also considered. -- As remote cognates are adduced Lith. mergà `girl' and, with diff. vowel, Alb. shemërë f. `by-wife' (from *sm̥-m_erī), Lith. martì f. `bride, young woman' (cf. Βριτό-μαρτις? s. v.); further still the unclear Lat. marītus `with wife, spouse', s. W.-Hofmann s. v. Further details also in WP. 2, 281, Pok. 738f.; Fraenkel Wb. s. martì and mergà. Several hypotheses on the formation by Specht Ursprung 124, 148 a. 210.

Page in Frisk: 2,195-196