σμύρις

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

σμίρις (smíris)

Etymology

Compared with μύρον (múron, “unguent”) and Proto-Germanic *smerwą (“grease”), but this is semantically not convincing. According to Von Blumenthal, it belongs to σμάω (smáō, “to wipe”). However, Furnée takes the variation υ/ι as proof of Pre-Greek origin, which is the most likely option.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /zmý.ris/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈzmy.ris/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈzmy.ris/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈzmy.ris/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈzmi.ris/

Noun

σμύρῐς • (smúris) f (genitive σμύρῐδος); third declension

emery-powder, used by lapidaries

Declension

Third declension of ἡ σμῠ́ρῐς; τῆς σμῠ́ρῐδος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ σμῠ́ρῐς hē smúris	τὼ σμῠ́ρῐδε tṑ smúride	αἱ σμῠ́ρῐδες hai smúrides
Genitive	τῆς σμῠ́ρῐδος tês smúridos	τοῖν σμῠρῐ́δοιν toîn smurídoin	τῶν σμῠρῐ́δων tôn smurídōn
Dative	τῇ σμῠ́ρῐδῐ têi smúridi	τοῖν σμῠρῐ́δοιν toîn smurídoin	ταῖς σμῠ́ρῐσῐ / σμῠ́ρῐσῐν taîs smúrisi(n)
Accusative	τὴν σμῠ́ρῐδᾰ tḕn smúrida	τὼ σμῠ́ρῐδε tṑ smúride	τᾱ̀ς σμῠ́ρῐδᾰς tā̀s smúridas
Vocative	σμῠ́ρῐς smúris	σμῠ́ρῐδε smúride	σμῠ́ρῐδες smúrides
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Nominative singular -ς (-s) arose by reduction of the original cluster *-ds.

Derived terms

σμιριεῖα (smirieîa)
σμιρίτης (smirítēs)

References

σμύρις in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
σμύρις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill