μάλθα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

  • μάλθη (málthē)

Etymology

Traditionally connected with μαλθακός (malthakós, “soft”) and derived from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥dʰ- (“soft”).[1][2][3] Beekes separates from μαλθακός (malthakós) and argues for a Pre-Greek technical loanword; note that *ml̥dʰ- would yield *βλαθ- (*blath-).[4] Compare Arabic مِلَاط (milāṭ) and the other Semitic words mentioned there, as well as Middle Armenian մաղթ (maġtʻ).

Pronunciation

 

Noun

μάλθᾰ • (málthă) f (genitive μάλθης); first declension

  1. a mixture of wax and pitch used for caulking ships and on writing tablets
  2. a large aquatic animal (perhaps after its tender or wax-like meat)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ μᾰ́λθᾰ; τῆς μᾰ́λθης (Attic)
Case / # Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ἡ μᾰ́λθᾰ
hē mắlthă 		τὼ μᾰ́λθᾱ
tṑ mắlthā 		αἱ μᾰ́λθαι
hai mắlthai
Genitive τῆς μᾰ́λθης
tês mắlthēs 		τοῖν μᾰ́λθαιν
toîn mắlthain 		τῶν μᾰλθῶν
tôn mălthôn
Dative τῇ μᾰ́λθῃ
tēî mắlthēi 		τοῖν μᾰ́λθαιν
toîn mắlthain 		ταῖς μᾰ́λθαις
taîs mắlthais
Accusative τὴν μᾰ́λθᾰν
tḕn mắlthăn 		τὼ μᾰ́λθᾱ
tṑ mắlthā 		τᾱ̀ς μᾰ́λθᾱς
tā̀s mắlthās
Vocative μᾰ́λθᾰ
mắlthă 		μᾰ́λθᾱ
mắlthā 		μᾰ́λθαι
mắlthai
Notes:
  • This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

  • → Latin: maltha
    • Italo-Romance:
      • Italian: malta, mota
    • Borrowings:
      • → English: maltha
      • → French: malthe

References

  1. ^ Boisacq, Émile (1916) “μάλθα”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (in French), Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 605
  2. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 719
  3. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (1968–1980) “μαλθακός”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (in French), Paris: Klincksieck, page 662
  4. ^ 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, page 898

Further reading

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