μύστης

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From μυέω (muéō, “I initiate”), from μῡ́ω (mū́ō, “I shut”), +‎ -της (-tēs). The sense development was probably "to shut" > "(one who) shuts one's eyes" > "one who is or is to be initiated (in the Eleusinian mysteries)".^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mýs.tɛːs/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmys.te̝s/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmys.tis/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmys.tis/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.tis/

Noun

μῠ́στης • (mŭ́stēs) m (genitive μῠ́στου); first declension

one who has been initiated; an initiate

Inflection

First declension of ὁ μῠ́στης; τοῦ μῠ́στου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μῠ́στης ho mŭ́stēs	τὼ μῠ́στᾱ tṑ mŭ́stā	οἱ μῠ́σται hoi mŭ́stai
Genitive	τοῦ μῠ́στου toû mŭ́stou	τοῖν μῠ́σταιν toîn mŭ́stain	τῶν μῠστῶν tôn mŭstôn
Dative	τῷ μῠ́στῃ tōî mŭ́stēi	τοῖν μῠ́σταιν toîn mŭ́stain	τοῖς μῠ́σταις toîs mŭ́stais
Accusative	τὸν μῠ́στην tòn mŭ́stēn	τὼ μῠ́στᾱ tṑ mŭ́stā	τοὺς μῠ́στᾱς toùs mŭ́stās
Vocative	μῠ́στᾰ mŭ́stă	μῠ́στᾱ mŭ́stā	μῠ́σται mŭ́stai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

μῠστήρῐον (mŭstḗrĭon)
μῠστῐκός (mŭstĭkós)
μύστις (mústis)
σῠμμῠ́στης (sŭmmŭ́stēs)

Descendants

→ Latin: mystēs, mysta (see there for further descendants)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μῡ́ω (> DER > 3. μύστης)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 988

“μύστης”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“μύστης”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
μύστης 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.
- initiated idem, page 441.
- mystery idem, page 549.
William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “mystery”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μῡ́ω (> DER > 3. μύστης)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 988

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