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The corpus record

Κήρ

ker · ἡ

the goddess of death

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Where it lives

What it meant

Κήρ · Kēr — LSJ

the goddess of death, doom

the goddess of death or doom, Κὴρ . . Θανάτοιο Od. 11.171, etc.; Κῆρες . . Θανάτοιο Il. 2.834, etc.; ἐν δʼ Ἔρις ἐν δὲ Κυδοιμὸς ὁμίλεον ἐν δʼ ὀλοὴ K. Il. 18.535; ἐμὲ μὲν K.ἀμφέχανε στυγερή, ἥ περ λάχε γιγνόμενόν περ 23.79; διχθάδιαι Κῆρες, of Achilles, 9.411; Κῆρες μυρίαι 12.326; Κῆρες Ἀχαιῶν, Τρώων, 8.73, 74; K. νηλεόποινοι Hes. Th. 217; K. Ἐρινύες A. Th. 1060 (anap.); K. ἀναπλάκητοι S. OT 472 (lyr.), cf. Tr. 133 (lyr.), Pi. Fr. 277, E. El. 1252, HF 870 (troch.); ἁρπαξάνδρα K., of the Sphinx, A.

II doom, death, violent, death

as Appellat., doom, death, esp. when violent, rarely without personal sense in Hom., τὸ δέ τοι κὴρ εἴδεται εἶναι that seems to thee to be death, Il. 1.228; κῆρʼ ἀλεείνων 3.32, al.; φόνον καὶ κ. φέροντες 2.352, al.: freq. later, ὐπὰ κᾶρι . . διννάεντʼ Ἀχέροντʼ ἐπέραισε Alc. Supp. 7.7; μέλαιναν κῆρʼ ἐπʼ ὄμμασιν βαλών E. Ph. 950.

2 plague, disease, ruin, disgrace

νοσῶν παλαιᾷ κηρί plague, disease, S. Ph. 42, cf. 1166 (lyr.): in a general sense, βαρεῖα μὲν κ. τὸ μὴ πιθέσθαι grievous ruin it were not to obey, A. Ag. 206 (lyr.); ἐλευθέρῳ ψευδεῖ καλεῖσθαι κ. πρόσεστιν οὐ καλή an unseemly disgrace, S. Tr. 454.

3 blemishes, defects

pl.sts. in Prose, blemishes, defects, [τοῖς καλοῖς] κ. ἐπιπεφύκασιν Pl. Lg. 937d; [τόποι] ἰδίας ἔχουσι κῆρας Thphr. CP 5.10.4; κ. σύμφυτοι D.H. 2.3, cf. 8.61; ἁμαρτίαι καὶ κ. Plu. Cim. 2; σῶμα ἀκήρατον τῶν ἐκτὸς κ. Ti.Locr. 95b, cf. Ph. 1.368, al.: rarely sg., συνήθειαν ὥσπερ τινὰ κ. Plu. Ant. 2, cf. Ph. 1.440. (Perh. cogn. with κεραΐζω.)

In the wild

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Where it came from

  • Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) Treated in Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) s.v. Κήρ (scan p. 736; entry #3120).
  • Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. Κήρ (scan p. 540; entry #3911).
  • Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. Κήρ (scan p. 875; entry #2964).

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