previous next
μαῖα , ἡ,
A.good mother, form of address to old women, Hom. (only in Od.), always in voc., usu. addressed to Eurycleia, the nurse of Odysseus, Od.19.482, al.; but also to Eurynome the ταμίη, 17.499: hence not only of nurses, cf. h.Cer.147, Ar.Ec.915 (lyr.).
2. later, foster-mother, E.Hipp.243 (anap.), Antiph.159.6; also, a true mother, “μαῖα δὴ κάτω βέβακεν” E.Alc.393 (lyr.): metaph., of the earth, “ἰὼ γαῖα μαῖα” A.Ch.44 (lyr.), cf. S.Fr.959.
3. midwife, Pl.Tht. 149a, Isyll.54, Sor.2.3, al., etc.
b. lady doctor, Gal.14.641.
4. in Dor., grandmother, Iamb.VP11.56, IG12(3).1120 (Melos).
II. large kind of crab, Arist.HA525b4, al.
III. a plant, = λεπίδιον, Orib.Fr.102. (Prob. from same Root as μήτηρ.）
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
How to enter text in Greek:
hide References (9 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (9):
    • Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, 44
    • Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae, 915
    • Euripides, Alcestis, 393
    • Euripides, Hippolytus, 243
    • Homer, Odyssey, 17.499
    • Homer, Odyssey, 19.482
    • Homeric Hymns, Hymn 2 to Demeter, 147
    • Plato, Theaetetus, 149a
    • Sophocles, Ichneutae, 959
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: