ἄρτος

See also: άρτος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Of unknown origin, though likely borrowed from a substrate. Compare Basque arto (“id”), Old Spanish artal (“a type of empanada”). Pisani's derivation as a borrowing from Proto-Iranian *arta- (“flour”), and thus connection to Persian آرد (ârd, “id”), is less likely, as the Greek word was already attested in Mycenean and is unable to be formally derived from the same Indo-European root that the Iranian stems from.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ár.tos/ → /ˈar.tos/ → /ˈar.tos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ár.tos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈar.tos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈar.tos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈar.tos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈar.tos/

Noun

ᾰ̓́ρτος • (ártos) m (genitive ᾰ̓́ρτου); second declension

1. a cake or loaf of wheat bread
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 17.343–344:

     ἄρτον τ᾽ οὖλον ἑλὼν περικαλλέος ἐκ κανέοιο
     καὶ κρέας, ὥς οἱ χεῖρες ἐχάνδανον ἀμφιβαλόντι·

     having taken a whole loaf of bread out of a very beatiful basket,
     and meat, as much as his hands could hold in their grasp:

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 18.119–120:

     Ἀμφίνομος δὲ
     ἄρτους ἐκ κανέοιο δύω παρέθηκεν ἀείρας

     Amphínomos dè
     ártous ek kanéoio dúō paréthēken aeíras

     And Amphinomus
     placed two loaves of bread before [him], having taken [them] out of a basket.

2. (collectively) bread

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ᾰ̓́ρτος; τοῦ ᾰ̓́ρτου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ᾰ̓́ρτος ho ártos	τὼ ᾰ̓́ρτω tṑ ártō	οἱ ᾰ̓́ρτοι hoi ártoi
Genitive	τοῦ ᾰ̓́ρτου toû ártou	τοῖν ᾰ̓́ρτοιν toîn ártoin	τῶν ᾰ̓́ρτων tôn ártōn
Dative	τῷ ᾰ̓́ρτῳ tôi ártōi	τοῖν ᾰ̓́ρτοιν toîn ártoin	τοῖς ᾰ̓́ρτοις toîs ártois
Accusative	τὸν ᾰ̓́ρτον tòn árton	τὼ ᾰ̓́ρτω tṑ ártō	τοὺς ᾰ̓́ρτους toùs ártous
Vocative	ᾰ̓́ρτε árte	ᾰ̓́ρτω ártō	ᾰ̓́ρτοι ártoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Antonyms

• μᾶζα (mâza, “barley bread”)

Derived terms

• ἀρτοδότης (artodótēs, “giver of bread”)
• ἀρτοζήτης (artozḗtēs, “one who begs for bread”)
• ἀρτοθήκη (artothḗkē, “pantry, bread-basket”)
• ἀρτοκάπηλος (artokápēlos, “bread-seller”)
• ἀρτόκλασμα (artóklasma, “morsel of bread”)
• ἀρτοκοπεῖον (artokopeîon, “bakery, boulangerie”)
• ἀρτοκοπία (artokopía, “baking”)
• ἀρτοκοπικός (artokopikós, “belonging to a baker”)
• ἀρτοκόπισσα (artokópissa, “female baker”)
• ἀρτοκόπος (artokópos, “baker”)
• ἀρτόκρεας (artókreas, “bread and meat”)
• ἀρτολάγανον (artoláganon, “a type of savoury cake”)
• ἀρτολάγυνος (artolágunos, “with bread and wine”)
• ἀρτόμελι (artómeli, “poultice of bread and honey”)
• ἀρτοπίναξ (artopínax, “bread platter”)
• ἀρτοποιέω (artopoiéō, “to bake, make into bread”)
• ἀρτοποιΐα (artopoiḯa, “a baking”)
• ἀρτοποιϊκός (artopoiïkós, “of or for baking”)
• ἀρτοποιός (artopoiós, “bread-maker”)
• ἀρτόπονος (artóponos, “one who bakes loaves”) (epithet)
• ἀρτοποπέω (artopopéō, “to be a baker”)
• ἀρτοπόπος (artopópos, “baker”)
• ἀρτοπράτης (artoprátēs, “dealer in bread”)
• ἀρτοπτεῖον (artopteîon, “place or vessel for baking”)
• ἀρτόπτης (artóptēs, “pan for baking bread”)
• ἀρτοπτίκιος (artoptíkios, “baked in a pan”)
• ἀρτοπωλέω (artopōléō, “to deal in bread”)
• ἀρτοπώλης (artopṓlēs, “baker, bread-seller”)
• ἀρτοπωλία (artopōlía, “dealing in bread”)
• ἀρτοπωλικόν (artopōlikón, “a tax on bakeries”)
• ἀρτοπώλιον (artopṓlion, “baker's shop, bakery”)
• ἀρτόπωλις (artópōlis, “bread-woman, female baker”)
• ἀρτοσιτέω (artositéō, “to eat wheaten bread”)
• ἀρτοσιτία (artositía, “feeding on bread”)
• ἀρτοστάσιον (artostásion, “fee for weighing bread”)
• ἀρτοστροφέω (artostrophéō, “to turn bread (as in baking)”)
• ἀρτότυρος (artóturos, “bread and cheese”)
• ἀρτουργός (artourgós, “baker”)
• ἀρτοφαγέω (artophagéō, “to eat bread”)
• ἀρτοφάγος (artophágos, “bread-eater; a rodent”)
• ἀρτοφοῖνιξ (artophoînix, “cake of bread and dates”)
• ἀρτοφόριον (artophórion, “bread-basket; festival”)
• ἀρτοφόρος (artophóros, “holding bread”)
• ἀρτόχαρις (artókharis, “a type of cake”)

Descendants

• Greek: άρτος (ártos)

See also

• ψωμίον (psōmíon)

Further reading

• “ἄρτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄρτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἄρτος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἄρτος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄρτος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἄρτος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• G740 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • bread idem, page 94.
  • loaf idem, page 496.