μάντις

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From the root of μαίνομαι (maínomai, “I am mad, raving”), per J.B. Hoffman (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) perhaps reflecting earlier *μάτις (*mátis) with analogical restoration of the nasal (similar to that seen in χανδάνω (khandánō) < *χαδάνω (*khadánō)), from Proto-Hellenic *mə́tis, from Proto-Indo-European *mń̥tis (“(the act of) thinking, thought; mind”), from *men- (“to think, perceive”) +‎ *-tis (deverbal noun-forming suffix) (whence -τις (-tis), -σις (-sis)), but Beekes is hesitant.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mán.tis/ → /ˈman.tis/ → /ˈman.dis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mán.tis/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈman.tis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈman.tis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈman.tis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈman.dis/

Noun

μᾰ́ντῐς • (mántis) m (genitive μᾰ́ντεως); third declension

1. prophet or seer.
2. mantis

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μᾰ́ντῐς ho mántis	τὼ μᾰ́ντει tṑ mántei	οἱ μᾰ́ντεις hoi mánteis
Genitive	τοῦ μᾰ́ντεως toû mánteōs	τοῖν μᾰντέοιν toîn mantéoin	τῶν μᾰ́ντεων tôn mánteōn
Dative	τῷ μᾰ́ντει tôi mántei	τοῖν μᾰντέοιν toîn mantéoin	τοῖς μᾰ́ντεσῐ / μᾰ́ντεσῐν toîs mántesi(n)
Accusative	τὸν μᾰ́ντῐν tòn mántin	τὼ μᾰ́ντει tṑ mántei	τοὺς μᾰ́ντεις toùs mánteis
Vocative	μᾰ́ντῐ mánti	μᾰ́ντει mántei	μᾰ́ντεις mánteis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of ὁ μᾰ́ντῐς; τοῦ μᾰ́ντεως (Attic)

Derived terms

• ῑ̓ᾱτρόμαντις (īātrómantis)
• μαντείᾱ (manteíā)
• μαντεῖον (manteîon)
• μαντεῖος (manteîos)
• μαντεύομαι (manteúomai)
• οἰωνόμᾰντῐς (oiōnómantis)

 

Descendants

• → New Latin: mantis
  • → Translingual: Mantis
  • → English: mantis
  • → French: mante
  • → Italian: mantide
  • → Spanish: mantis
  • → Portuguese: mantídeo
  • → Welsh: mantis
• → Greek: μάντης (mántis)

Further reading

• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μάντις, -εως”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 902–903
• “μάντις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μάντις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “μάντις”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• μάντις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• μάντις in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “μάντις”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • boding idem, page 87.
  • conjecturer idem, page 160.
  • diviner idem, page 244.
  • foreboding idem, page 336.
  • guesser idem, page 378.
  • presage idem, page 636.
  • prescient idem, page 636.
  • priestess idem, page 640.
  • prophet idem, page 653.
  • prophetess idem, page 653.
  • prophetic idem, page 653.
  • seer idem, page 750.