ῥέθος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Since the meaning "face, countenance", given as Aeolic by grammarians, is certain, we have to depart from this when explaining the word. Both an older Epic meaning "mouth" and "figure, body" seems possible (compare Latin ōs (“mouth; face”) and faciēs (“figure; face”)). An original meaning "nostril(s)" fits well, and the transition to "face, body" is unproblematic. The word has no convincing etymology. The lack of the ϝ- in Aeolic makes a connection with Sanskrit वर्धते (vardhate, “to grow, thrive”) difficult. Fraenkel's suggestion to connect ῥίς (rhís, “nose, snout”) and ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”) is neither morphologically nor semantically convincing.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /r̥é.tʰos/ → /ˈre.θos/ → /ˈre.θos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /r̥é.tʰos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈre.tʰos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈre.θos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈre.θos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈre.θos/

Noun

ῥέθος • (rhéthos) n (genitive ῥέθεος); third declension

1. (usually in the plural) limb, member

   Synonyms: κῶλον (kôlon), μέλος (mélos)

2. (in the singular) face, countenance

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ ῥέθος; τοῦ ῥέθεος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ῥέθος tò rhéthos	τὼ ῥέθεε tṑ rhéthee	τᾰ̀ ῥέθεᾰ tà rhéthea
Genitive	τοῦ ῥέθεος toû rhétheos	τοῖν ῥεθέοιν toîn rhethéoin	τῶν ῥεθέων tôn rhethéōn
Dative	τῷ ῥέθεῐ̈ tôi rhétheï	τοῖν ῥεθέοιν toîn rhethéoin	τοῖς ῥέθεσῐ / ῥέθεσῐν toîs rhéthesi(n)
Accusative	τὸ ῥέθος tò rhéthos	τὼ ῥέθεε tṑ rhéthee	τᾰ̀ ῥέθεᾰ tà rhéthea
Vocative	ῥέθος rhéthos	ῥέθεε rhéthee	ῥέθεᾰ rhéthea
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ῥεθομᾱλῐ́δας (rhethomālídas)

Further reading

• “ῥέθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ῥέθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ῥέθος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ῥέθος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ῥέθεα in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• 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, →ISBN