ζῦθος

Alternative forms

• (Egyptian beer brewed with barley): ζῦτος (zûtos)
• ζύθος (zúthos) – codical variant

Etymology

Unknown; suggested sources have included Egyptian, Scythian, Pre-Greek, or a native origin, in which case it would be related to ζύμη (zúmē, “yeast”).^[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

ζῦθος • (zûthos) m (genitive ζῡ́θου); second declension
ζῦθος • (zûthos) n (genitive ζῡ́θεος or ζῡ́θους); third declension

1. an Egyptian kind of beer, brewed with barley
   • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants 6.11.2
   • 40 CE – 90 CE, Dioscorides, Materia medica 2.87
   • 64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 17.1.14

     ἅπασα μὲν ἡ χώρα αὕτη οὐκ εὔοινος, πλείω δεχομένου τοῦ κεράμου θάλατταν ἢ οἶνον ὃν δὴ καλοῦσι Λιβυκόν, ᾧ δὴ καὶ τῷ ζύθῳ τὸ πολὺ φῦλον χρῆται τῶν Ἀλεξανδρέων·

     hápasa mèn hē khṓra haútē ouk eúoinos, pleíō dekhoménou toû kerámou thálattan ḕ oînon hòn dḕ kaloûsi Libukón, hôi dḕ kaì tôi zúthōi tò polù phûlon khrêtai tôn Alexandréōn;

   • 100 BCE – 1 BCE, Diodorus Siculus, Library 1.34
2. beer of northern nations
   • Posidon. 15.J.
   • 64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 3.3.7

     χρῶνται δὲ καὶ ζύθει·

     khrôntai dè kaì zúthei;

   • 100 BCE – 1 BCE, Diodorus Siculus, Library 5.26
   • Phot.
   • 40 CE – 115 CE, Dio Chrysostom, Collected Works 32.82
   • Colum. 10.116

References

Further reading

• ζῦθος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press