Almirida, Almyrida

[Margrave]

Hi! In Crete there is the beach of Almirida/Alymrida ( Αλμυρίδα ). I wonder what is the meaning of this toponymy. Any advice is welcome.

Rgs

MG

 

[Acestor]

The older form of the word, ἁλμυρίς, in fact means 'salt land'. I think that's the simplest explanation for it.

 

[Margrave]

Thank you. I could find άλας (salt), which could relate to ἁλ but not able to find the radical for μυρίς, which should mean "land".

 

[Acestor]

In fact, it’s ἅλς > ἅλμη (sea water, brine) > ἁλμ-υρός (salt, briny) > ἁλμυρίς.

 

[ioanell]

not able to find the radical root for μυρίς, which should mean "land"

μυρίς does not exist neither as a word nor as a root, and therefore has no connection with “land”, but the word ἁλμυρίς, as Acestor explained the derivation (ἅλς n. (sea)> ἅλμη n.(sea water, brine) > ἁλμυρός adj.(salty, briny) > ἁλμυρίς adj.), is in fact a feminine adjective (coming from ἁλμ-υρά, the feminine of ἁλμ-υρός) which defined the word χώρα as ἁλμυρίς χώρα (=salty land), until sometime in the past the noun χώρα was omitted in the everyday use and the adjective ἁλμυρίς was nominalized and continued its life as a toponym of the place. The modern toponym is the accusative case αλμυρίδα of the ancient nominative case ἁλμυρίς.

 

[Margrave]

@ioanell, thank you very much for your detailed reply.

 

[Bob the Geordie]

μυρίς does not exist neither as a word nor as a root, and therefore has no connection with “land”, but the word ἁλμυρίς, as Acestor explained the derivation (ἅλς n. (sea)> ἅλμη n.(sea water, brine) > ἁλμυρός adj.(salty, briny) > ἁλμυρίς adj.), is in fact a feminine adjective (coming from ἁλμ-υρά, the feminine of ἁλμ-υρός) which defined the word χώρα as ἁλμυρίς χώρα (=salty land), until sometime in the past the noun χώρα was omitted in the everyday use and the adjective ἁλμυρίς was nominalized and continued its life as a toponym of the place. The modern toponym is the accusative case αλμυρίδα of the ancient nominative case ἁλμυρίς.

Having lived about 3km from Almyrida for the last 23 years, I am grateful for the explanation!

 

[Αγγελος]

May I add that άλμη and αλμυρός (αλσο άρμη/αρμυρός) are perfectly normal modern Greek words as well, meaning 'brine' and 'salty' respectively, and that αρμυρίκια are a common tree or bush growing on beaches. See Αλμυρίκι: Το απόλυτο δέντρο του ελληνικού καλοκαιριού