μόλυβδος

Ancient Greek

Cognate with Mycenaean Greek 𐀗𐀪𐀺𐀈 (mo-ri-wo-do), from an Anatolian word cognate with Lydian 𐤪𐤠𐤭𐤦𐤥𐤣𐤠 (mariwda, “dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *morgʷ-iyo-, from a root *mergʷ- (“dark”),^[1]^[2]^[3] whence also English murky, Albanian marrtë (“dim as twilight; blurry”). Probably not cognate with Latin plumbum (“lead”), despite superficial similarity.

μόλυβδος • (mólubdos) m (genitive μολύβδου); second declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μόλῠβδος ho mólubdos	τὼ μολῠ́βδω tṑ molúbdō	οἱ μόλῠβδοι hoi mólubdoi
Genitive	τοῦ μολῠ́βδου toû molúbdou	τοῖν μολῠ́βδοιν toîn molúbdoin	τῶν μολῠ́βδων tôn molúbdōn
Dative	τῷ μολῠ́βδῳ tôi molúbdōi	τοῖν μολῠ́βδοιν toîn molúbdoin	τοῖς μολῠ́βδοις toîs molúbdois
Accusative	τὸν μόλῠβδον tòn mólubdon	τὼ μολῠ́βδω tṑ molúbdō	τοὺς μολῠ́βδους toùs molúbdous
Vocative	μόλῠβδε mólubde	μολῠ́βδω molúbdō	μόλῠβδοι mólubdoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μόλυβδος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 964-5
^ Ivo Hajnal, Graeco-Anatolian Contacts in the Mycenaean Period (Innsbruck: University of Innsbruck), 6.
^ H.C. Melchert, “Greek mólybdos as loanword from Lydian”, Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and their Neighbours. Proceedings of an International Conference on Cross-Cultural Interaction, September 17-19, 2004, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, eds. B.J.Collins, M.R. Bachvarova & I.C. Rutherford (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008), 153-157.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek μόλυβδος (mólubdos), of Anatolian origin, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *merkʷ- (“dark”). See also μολύβι (molývi).

μόλυβδος • (mólyvdos) m (uncountable)