Learn Greek › B2 › μέις
μέις
month /ˈmɛːs/
nounB2#2410 most common
Also: lunar month
Example sentences
Ὁ μέις μακρός ἐστιν.
The month is long.
Οὗτος ὁ μέις καλός ἐστιν.
This month is good.
Ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μηνὶ ἦλθεν ὁ στρατός.
In this month the army arrived.
Διὰ τὸν μῆνα τοῦτον οὐκ ἔπλευσαν.
Because of this month, they did not sail.
Ὁ μέις ὁ ἕβδομος ἱερός ἐστι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις.
The seventh month is sacred to the Athenians.
Ἡρόδοτος γράφει ὅτι ἐν ἑκάστῳ μηνὶ αἱ πανηγύρεις ἐτελοῦντο.
Herodotus writes that in each month the festivals were held.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | μέις (μείς) | μῆνες |
| Genitive | μηνός | μηνῶν |
| Accusative | μῆνα | μῆνας |
| Vocative | μέις (μείς) | μῆνες |
Word family
μήνmonth (Attic standard form)
μήνηmoon (poetic)
μηνιαίοςmonthly
μηνιάτικοmonthly wage (Modern Greek, colloquial)
Etymology
μέις (also written μείς) is an Ionic and poetic variant of μήν, the standard Ancient Greek word for month. Both go back to a shared Indo-European root tied to the moon, since early calendars measured time by lunar cycles. The form shows up often in Homer and in Ionic prose writers such as Herodotus, who favored μείς over the Attic μήν. Modern Greek has dropped the word entirely in favor of μήνας.
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