- ἐριθάκη
- ἐριθάκηGrammatical information: f.Meaning: `bee-bread' (a kind of wax) (Arist. Varr. Plin.); Hesychius comments: ἡ ὑπὸ τῶν μελισσῶν παρατιθεμένη τροφή καὶ τὸ ἐγκοίλιον τῶν ἰχθύων τῶν μαλακῶν καὶ τὰ τῶν ὑῶν ἔμβρυα. I add the comment of DELG: "The gloss gives two informations: on the one hand the meaning `interior of the crustacaeans' which arose from the resemblance between the two materials explains the adjective ἐριθακώδης (`full of ἐριθάκη'), epithet of γραῖαι (`crabs') (Épich. 61); on the other hand, it appears that the `bee-bread' was - wrongly - considered as food of the bees [in reality they use it to close openings in the walls of the bee-hive], which would explain the connection with ἔριθος, cf. s.u." The latter remark is not very clear to me; perhaps Chantraine refers to the fact that ἐριθακίς means `worker-bee'.Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]X [probably]Etymology: Acc. to Nehring Gl. 14 (1925) 183 Pre-Greek. On the connection with ἔριθος see above.
Greek-English etymological dictionary (Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά ετυμολογική λεξικό). Robert S.P.. 2010.