Νηρεύς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Of uncertain origin. Most theories are based on Nereus being a sea god:

  • Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nér (“below (the surface)”) and related to Lithuanian nérti (“to dive”), nėrõvė (“mermaid”).[1][2]
  • Related to νηρόν (nērón, “low-lying”), which Beekes considers to be of unclear origin.
  • Beekes (2010) favors a Pre-Greek origin, in view of the ending suffix -εύς (-eús) as well as the semantic category of mythological names.

It is possible that the name Νηρεύς (Nēreús) is a back-formation from Νηρῇς (Nērēîs, “a Nereid”), the name of his daughters, as the latter hold much more significance in Greek mythology.[3]

Tsantsanoglou suggests Hesiod (folk-)etymologically linked the name to νηρός (nērós) (contracted from νεαρός (nearós, “new, fresh”)), as a play on him also being called "the old man".[4]

Pronunciation

 
  • Hyphenation: Νη‧ρεύς

Proper noun

Νηρεύς • (Nēreús) m (genitive Νηρέως); third declension

  1. Nereus

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ Νηρεύς; τοῦ Νηρέως (Attic)
Case / # Singular
Nominative ὁ Νηρεύς
ho Nēreús
Genitive τοῦ Νηρέως
toû Nēréōs
Dative τῷ Νηρεῖ
tōî Nēreî
Accusative τὸν Νηρέᾱ
tòn Nēréā
Vocative Νηρεῦ
Nēreû
Notes:
  • This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.
Third declension of Νηρεύς; Νηρῆος (Epic)
Case / # Singular
Nominative Νηρεύς
Nēreús
Genitive Νηρῆος / Νηρέος
Nērêos / Nēréos
Dative Νηρῆῐ̈ / Νηρέῐ̈
Nērêĭ̈ / Nēréĭ̈
Accusative Νηρῆᾰ / Νηρέᾰ
Nērêă / Nēréă
Vocative Νηρεῦ
Nēreû
Notes:
  • Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Greek: Νηρεύς (Niréfs), Νηρέας (Niréas)
  • Latin: Nēreus

References

  1. ^ Dunkel, George E. (2014) Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme [Lexicon of Indo-European Particles and Pronominal Stems] (in German), volume 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, →ISBN, page 556
  2. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (1968–1980) “Νηρεύς”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (in French), Paris: Klincksieck, page 751
  3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “Νηρεύς, -έως”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1017
  4. ^ Tsantsanoglou, Kyriakos (2015) “Νηρεύς, A Controversial Water-god”, in Lemmata: Beiträge zum Gedenken an Christos Theodoridis, De Gruyter, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 5–15

Further reading

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