Ancient Greek

Noun

βροτός • ‎(brotós) m, f ‎(genitive βροτοῦ); second declension

1. (poetic) mortal man, human being (often in plural)
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.32

     ὢ πόποι, οἷον δή νυ θεοὺς βροτοὶ αἰτιόωνται.

     [Zeus:] Alas, how mortals are always blaming the gods.

Usage notes

In Homer, βροτός behaves as if it begins in a single consonant, because it does not make the preceding syllable long. In the example below, εἴπῃσι βροτῶν must be scanned long—long–short–short—long: ει . πηι σι (β)ρο . των. Ordinarily the first consonant in the cluster βρ would close the last syllable of εἴπῃσι and make it long, but this results in an unmetrical rhythm (see dactylic hexameter): ει . πηι σιβ ρο ? των.

• 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.282

  ἤν τίς τοι εἴπῃσι βροτῶν, ἢ ὄσσαν ἀκούσῃς

  if any of the mortals can tell you [anything], or you can hear a divine rumor

Inflection

Derived terms

• ἄβροτος ‎(ábrotos)
• ἄμβροτος ‎(ámbrotos)

Antonyms

• θεός ‎(theós), ἀθάνατος ‎(athánatos)

See also

• βρότος ‎(brótos)

References

• βροτός in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• βροτός in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βροτός in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «βροτός» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• «βροτός» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• «βροτός» in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (© 2006–2016)
• βροτός in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter