English
hexameter
Hexameter comes from Ancient Greek ἑξάμετρος ‘Expressed in dactylic hexameter and the Epic…’, from μέτρον ‘meter’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-‘to measure’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέτρον‘meter’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEἑξάμετροςhexámetros‘Expressed in dactylic hexameter and the Epic dialect: hexametric’
- Englishearliest quotation 1908hexameter
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-‘to measure’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέτρον‘meter’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEἑξάμετροςhexámetros‘Expressed in dactylic hexameter and the Epic dialect: hexametric’
- Englishearliest quotation 1908hexameter
Earliest quotation: 1908, Walter Wilson Greg, [Preface]: “The date of composition is pretty certainly about 1590,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’
month, moon, measure, moral, meal, sunny, dimensional, dimension, immense, moody, meta, geometric, mesa, menstrual, symmetric, commensurate, mensa, centimetre, firman, moodiness, menses, metis, mete, 60 more
through Ancient Greek μέτρον ‘meter’
metric, metre, parameter, asymmetry, madder, metrology, metra, 43 more
Today it means
noun A line in a poem having six metrical feet.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- / hexameter