μορτός

Validation

Yes

Word-form

βροτός

Transliteration (Word)

brotos

English translation (word)

mortal

Transliteration (Etymon)

mortos

English translation (etymon)

mortal

Author

Ammonius of Hermeias

Century

Century

5-6 AD

Source

Id.

Ref.

On Aristotle’s "On Interpretation" 38.11-12

Ed.

Ammonius, Commentary on On Interpretation, ed. A. Busse, 1897

Quotation

βροτὸς [ὁ ἄνθρωπος] δὲ ὡς μορτὸς καὶ μοιρητός…

Translation (En)

... and [man was called] brotosmortal” as mortos "mortal" or moirētos “having received a lot” (assigned by the Moirai)

Other translation(s)

Modern Greek: ...και ονομάστηκε [ο άνθρωπος] βροτός, επειδή είναι θνητός ή μοιρητός (του έλαχε μια συγκεκριμένη μοίρα)...

Comment

This etymology is correct, μορτός (attested in Callimachus) being identical with βροτός. Μορτός itself is etymologized as a derivative from μοῖρα, through the ghost-form *μοιρητός "who has received a lot": the root of μοῖρα (*smer-) appears as μορ- in forms like Hom. ἔμμορε "he obtained from destiny", μόρος "lot, destiny", which looked identical with the stem of μορτός, once initial *s- was lost.

Modern etymology

Chantraine (1970, 197-198): Αlready in Homer, βροτός was the form opposed to ἄμβροτος, meaning ‘immortal’. It is the inherited verbal adjective of the Indo-European root *mer- meaning "to die".

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word is not used in Modern Greek.

Entry By

Chriti