λίτρα

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Borrowed from an Italic language,^[1] ultimately from Proto-Italic *līðrā (“ingot”).^[2] The immediate source for the Greek borrowing could be Sicel *lītrā.^[3] The Italic word also survives in Latin lībra. Compare the morphology of Ancient Greek στατήρ (statḗr).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /lǐː.traː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈli.tra/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈli.tra/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈli.tra/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈli.tra/

Noun

λῑ́τρᾱ • (lī́trā) f (genitive λῑ́τρᾱς); first declension

litra, a Sicilian silver coin
- Epicharumus 5
- Sophron 26
- 342 BCE – 291 BCE, Diphilus, The Sicilian 1
- 316 BCE – 250 BCE, Posidippus Comicus, The Gaul 2
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Fragments 436
libra, a unit of weight
- Palatine Anthology 6.214
- 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, Histories 22.26.19
- Palatine Anthology 10.97
1. a box for holding libras
  Synonym: λιτροδόκη (litrodókē)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ λῑ́τρᾱ; τῆς λῑ́τρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ λῑ́τρᾱ hē lī́trā	τὼ λῑ́τρᾱ tṑ lī́trā	αἱ λῖτραι hai lîtrai
Genitive	τῆς λῑ́τρᾱς tês lī́trās	τοῖν λῑ́τραιν toîn lī́train	τῶν λῑτρῶν tôn lītrôn
Dative	τῇ λῑ́τρᾳ tēî lī́trāi	τοῖν λῑ́τραιν toîn lī́train	ταῖς λῑ́τραις taîs lī́trais
Accusative	τὴν λῑ́τρᾱν tḕn lī́trān	τὼ λῑ́τρᾱ tṑ lī́trā	τᾱ̀ς λῑ́τρᾱς tā̀s lī́trās
Vocative	λῑ́τρᾱ lī́trā	λῑ́τρᾱ lī́trā	λῖτραι lîtrai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

→ Aramaic:
- Classical Syriac: ܪܺܝܛܠܳܐ / ܠܺܝܛܪܳܐ (līṭrā, rīṭlā)
- Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: רִיטְלָא / לִיטְרָא (līṭrā, rīṭlā)
- → Arabic: رِطْل (riṭl)
  - → English: rottol, rotol, rotolo, rottolo, rotal, rotl, rottil, rottle, rutl, rethel, rethl, rattle, ratl
  - → Italian: rotolo
  - → Portuguese: arrátel
  - → Spanish: arrelde
  - → Swahili: ratili
  - → Turkish: ratl / رطل
  - → Urdu: رطل
→ Old Armenian: լիտր (litr)
→ Medieval Latin: litra
- → French: litre (see there for further descendants)
- → Serbo-Croatian:
  - Cyrillic script: ли̏тра
  - Latin script: lȉtra

References

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “lībra”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 339
^ Michael Weiss, "The Etymology of Latin lībra", conference paper presented at the SCS Greek and Latin Linguistics Panel on January 5, 2021
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “λίτρα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 867

Greek

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /liˈtɾa/
Hyphenation: λί‧τρα
Homophone: λύτρα (lýtra)

Etymology 1

Noun

λίτρα • (lítra) n

nominative/accusative/vocative plural of λίτρο (lítro)

Etymology 2

Noun

λίτρα • (lítra) f (plural λίτρες)

obsolete form of λίτρο (lítro)

Declension

Declension of **λίτρα**
	singular	plural
nominative	λίτρα (lítra)	λίτρες (lítres)
genitive	λίτρας (lítras)	λιτρών (litrón)
accusative	λίτρα (lítra)	λίτρες (lítres)
vocative	λίτρα (lítra)	λίτρες (lítres)

[1] De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “lībra”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 339

[2] Michael Weiss, "The Etymology of Latin lībra", conference paper presented at the SCS Greek and Latin Linguistics Panel on January 5, 2021

[3] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “λίτρα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 867

[1]

[2]

[3]

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Inflection

Descendants

References

Further reading

Greek

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Etymology 2

Noun

Declension