λύθρον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• λύθρος (lúthros)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”), the same root of λούω (loúō, “to wash”), λῦμα (lûma, “dirt”), Latin lutum (“mire, mud”) and Albanian lym (“loam, clay”). Compare Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhira, “blood, gore”), in which case the color-word being the same is coincidence.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /lý.tʰron/ → /ˈly.θron/ → /ˈli.θron/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /lý.tʰron/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈly.tʰron/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈly.θron/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈly.θron/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈli.θron/

Noun

λύθρον • (lúthron) n (genitive λύθρου); second declension

1. gore, defilement from blood

   Synonym: βρότος (brótos)

2. venom of the hydra

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ λῠ́θρον tò lúthron	τὼ λῠ́θρω tṑ lúthrō	τᾰ̀ λῠ́θρᾰ tà lúthra
Genitive	τοῦ λῠ́θρου toû lúthrou	τοῖν λῠ́θροιν toîn lúthroin	τῶν λῠ́θρων tôn lúthrōn
Dative	τῷ λῠ́θρῳ tôi lúthrōi	τοῖν λῠ́θροιν toîn lúthroin	τοῖς λῠ́θροις toîs lúthrois
Accusative	τὸ λῠ́θρον tò lúthron	τὼ λῠ́θρω tṑ lúthrō	τᾰ̀ λῠ́θρᾰ tà lúthra
Vocative	λῠ́θρον lúthron	λῠ́θρω lúthrō	λῠ́θρᾰ lúthra
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of τὸ λῠ́θρον; τοῦ λῠ́θρου (Attic)

Derived terms

• λυθρόω (luthróō)
• λυθρώδης (luthrṓdēs)

 

Descendants

• Translingual: Lythrum

Further reading

• “λύθρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “λύθρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• λύθρον 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