μόθων

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• μόθᾰξ (móthax)

Etymology

According to Beekes, from μόθος (móthos, “battle din”). However, Lewy proposes a Semitic origin, comparing the word with Hebrew עתק (ataq, “to set free”) and suggesting that μόθαξ (móthax) was the original word.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mó.tʰɔːn/ → /ˈmo.θon/ → /ˈmo.θon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mó.tʰɔːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.tʰon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.θon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.θon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.θon/

Noun

μόθων • (móthōn) m (genitive μόθωνος); third declension

1. (at Sparta) children of helots, brought up as foster-brothers of the young Spartans
2. (in Attica) presumptuous, impudent fellow
3. kind of licentious dance
4. kind of tune for the flute

Declension

Third declension of ὁ μόθων; τοῦ μόθωνος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μόθων ho móthōn	τὼ μόθωνε tṑ móthōne	οἱ μόθωνες hoi móthōnes
Genitive	τοῦ μόθωνος toû móthōnos	τοῖν μοθώνοιν toîn mothṓnoin	τῶν μοθώνων tôn mothṓnōn
Dative	τῷ μόθωνῐ tôi móthōni	τοῖν μοθώνοιν toîn mothṓnoin	τοῖς μόθωσῐ / μόθωσῐν toîs móthōsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν μόθωνᾰ tòn móthōna	τὼ μόθωνε tṑ móthōne	τοὺς μόθωνᾰς toùs móthōnas
Vocative	μόθων móthōn	μόθωνε móthōne	μόθωνες móthōnes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μοθωνῐκός (mothōnikós)
• μοθωνῐ́ᾱ (mothōníā)

 

Further reading

• “μόθων”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μόθων”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μόθων 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, →ISBN
• Lewy, Heinrich (1895) Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (in German), Berlin: R. Gaertner’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 73