μιαιφόνος

From μῐαίνω (mĭaínō, “stain”) + -φόνος (“-killer”), φόνος (phónos, “murder”) (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

μῐαιφόνος • (mĭaiphónos) m or f (neuter μῐαιφόνον); second declension

1. bloodthirsty, murderous (epithet of Mars (Ares))
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.31:

     Ἄρες Ἄρες βροτολοιγὲ μιαιφόνε τειχεσιπλῆτα

     Áres Áres brotoloigè miaiphóne teikhesiplêta

     Ares, Ares, thou bane of mortals, thou blood-stained stormer of walls

     English translation by A.T. Murray @perseus

     Goddess Athena addresses Ares (Mars)

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.455:

     Apollo speaks the same phrase: Ἄρες Ἄρες βροτολοιγὲ μιαιφόνε τειχεσιπλῆτα (Áres Áres brotoloigè miaiphóne teikhesiplêta)

     Apollo speaks the same phrase: Áres Áres brotoloigè miaiphóne teikhesiplêta (Áres Áres brotoloigè miaiphóne teikhesiplêta)

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 425 BCE, Euripides, Andromache 334:

     μιαιφόνον μὲν οὐκέτ’ ἂν φύγοι μύσος

     miaiphónon mèn oukét’ àn phúgoi músos

     From that point on she will not escape the pollution of murder.

     English translation by David Kovacs @perseus.tufts.edu

   • 484 BCE – 425 BCE, Herodotus, 5. Τερψιχόρη 92

     ὑμεῖς ὦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἰσοκρατίας καταλύοντες τυραννίδας ἐς τὰς πόλις κατάγειν παρασκευάζεσθε, τοῦ οὔτε ἀδικώτερον ἐστὶ οὐδὲν κατ’ ἀνθρώπους οὔτε μιαιφονώτερον.

     humeîs ô Lakedaimónioi isokratías katalúontes turannídas es tàs pólis katágein paraskeuázesthe, toû oúte adikṓteron estì oudèn kat’ anthrṓpous oúte miaiphonṓteron.

     you, Lacedaemonians, are destroying the rule of equals and making ready to bring back tyranny into the cities, tyranny, a thing more unrighteous and bloodthirsty than anything else on this earth.

     English translation (1920) by A. D. Godley @perseus.tufts.edu

   • 431 BCE, Euripides, Medea 266:

     ὅταν δ’ ἐς εὐνὴν ἠδικημένη κυρῇ,
     οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλη φρὴν μιαιφονωτέρα.

     hótan d’ es eunḕn ēdikēménē kurēî,
     ouk éstin állē phrḕn miaiphonōtéra.

     but when she is injured in love,
     no mind is more murderous than hers.

     English translation by David Kovacs @perseus.tufts.edu

• “μιαιφόνος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μιαιφόνος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “μιαιφόνος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers