λάτρις

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From λᾰ́τρον (lắtron, “hire, payment”), putatively from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂t- (“to grant; to possess”) or *leh₁-t- (“to let, grant”), thereby cognate with Proto-Germanic *lēþą (“possession, ownership”) (though there are phonetic problems) and Latin latrō (“mercenary”).

On the other hand, Beekes rejects the Indo-European etymology and suggests Pre-Greek origin.^[1] He considers -ρ- (-r-) in this case to be a Pre-Greek suffix.^[2] The Latin cognate may instead be borrowed from an unattested form *λάτρων (*látrōn).^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /lá.tris/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈla.tris/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈla.tris/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈla.tris/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈla.tris/

Noun

λᾰ́τρῐς • (lắtrĭs) m or f (genitive λᾰ́τρῐος); third declension

a hired servant
a handmaid
a slave
a god's servant
Ἀπόλλωνος λάτριν

Declension

Third declension of ὁ, ἡ λᾰ́τρῐς; τοῦ, τῆς λᾰ́τρῐος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ, ἡ λᾰ́τρῐς ho, hē lắtrĭs	τὼ λᾰ́τρῐε tṑ lắtrĭe	οἱ, αἱ λᾰ́τρῐες hoi, hai lắtrĭes
Genitive	τοῦ, τῆς λᾰ́τρῐος toû, tês lắtrĭos	τοῖν λᾰτρῐ́οιν toîn lătrĭ́oin	τῶν λᾰτρῐ́ων tôn lătrĭ́ōn
Dative	τῷ, τῇ λᾰ́τρῑ tōî, tēî lắtrī	τοῖν λᾰτρῐ́οιν toîn lătrĭ́oin	τοῖς, ταῖς λᾰ́τρῐσῐ / λᾰ́τρῐσῐν toîs, taîs lắtrĭsĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸν, τὴν λᾰ́τρῐν tòn, tḕn lắtrĭn	τὼ λᾰ́τρῐε tṑ lắtrĭe	τοὺς, τᾱ̀ς λᾰ́τρῑς / λᾰ́τρῐᾰς toùs, tā̀s lắtrīs / lắtrĭăs
Vocative	λᾰ́τρῐ lắtrĭ	λᾰ́τρῐε lắtrĭe	λᾰ́τρῐες lắtrĭes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Related terms

λατρεία (latreía)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “λάτρον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 837–838
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014) “λάτρον”, in Stefan Norbruis, editor, Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 149

“λάτρις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“λάτρις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
λάτρις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- handmaid idem, page 383.
- hired servant idem, page 401.
- lackey idem, page 473.
- maid servant idem, page 507.
- menial idem, page 524.
- servant idem, page 755.

[EDG-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “λάτρον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 837–838

[2] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014) “λάτρον”, in Stefan Norbruis, editor, Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 149

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