Etymology

The noun μῆρα is probably a continuation of the archaic form of the collective (collective) noun *mēms-reh2 (Vine 2002, 333), cf. toch B mīsa 'meat' (< ptoch. *myämsa, with the regular loss of the nasal consonant by -s-, Hackstein 2011/2, 154). As a collective noun the word *mēms-reh2 meant a set of objects, the original meaning of i.-e. *mēms-reh2 would therefore have to be defined as '(set, collection) of parts, pieces of animal > meat'. However, this hypothesis does not explain the attested form of the word, since according to the rules of phonetic change one would expect the form *μεμβρ- (Beekes 2010, 947). It is therefore possible that the Greek μῆρα derives from a form lacking the nasal consonant -m-: i.e. *mēs-reh2. In Greek, through a process of specialisation, the word μῆρα came to mean "a set, a set of femurs", properly prepared and offered to supernatural beings [?"(a set, a collection) of animal parts > femurs burned for the gods"].

The specialisation in Greek is peculiar, perhaps related to the evolution of the ritual of animal blood sacrifice (cf. another technical term expressed by the collective noun σπλάγχνα). In other languages from the same vocabulary base, i.e. *mēs/*mēms 'meat', evolved nouns meaning 'meat' or 'flesh'. The athematic form was retained by the scr. noun mās- 'meat'. In many languages the subject noun r.n. was formed. *mēms-(o)-m, from which are derived nouns meaning "meat", cf. pol. mięso, "edible parts of slaughtered animals", "soft parts of the human body", ogsł. *maso: scs. męso, cz. maso, ros. mjáso; lit. mėsà, lat. mìesa ("meat", "body"); goc. mimz (acc. sg.); stind. māṁsám (n.), "meat", orm. mis (cf. Polomé 1967). In Greek i.e. *mēs/*mēms in the sense of "meat" took over another noun of Indo-European origin, κρέας, "raw meat" (see s.v.).

Testimonies

The collective noun μῆρα is an archaic technical term for femurs wrapped in fatty peritoneal membrane that were sacrificed on an altar and burned. In Homeric epic it occurs in strictly specialized contexts interchangeably with the term → μηρία ➚. First, in the phraseological compound μῆρα + ἐπιτίθημι, 'to lay (on the altar) femurs (hidden in the peritoneal membrane)' as a metonymy for 'to offer an animal sacrifice' (in Nestor's memoir of sacrifices performed in the past: Od. 3.178-9: Ποσειδάωνι δὲ ταύρων / πόλλ᾽ ἐπὶ μῆρ᾽ ἔθεμεν, to Poseidon we offered a plural leg of bulls). However, it appears most frequently in the standard hexameter ending descriptions of a blood sacrifice combined with a meal (a typical scene): αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ κατὰ μῆρ᾽ ἐκάη καὶ σπλάγχνα πάσαντο 'when the legs had burned and they had tasted the entrails' (4x: Il. 1.464=Il. 2.427=Od. 3.461= Od. 12.364). In a variant of this hexameter in Od. 3.9 μῆρα has been replaced by the more frequent noun μηρία: εὖθ᾽ οἱ σπλάγχνα πάσαντο, θεῷ δ᾽ ἐπὶ μηρί᾽ ἔκηαν. In addition to this we find it in the description of the feast at Feak (Od. 13.25-6: μῆρα δὲ κήαντες δαίνυντ᾽ ἐρικυδέα δαῖτα τερπόμενοι). In the later epic the typical scene was transformed retaining the archaic noun (A.Rh. 1.433-434: 'they also chopped off the legs, all the parts thoroughly covered with abundant fat', τε καὶ ἱερὰ μῆρ᾽ ἐτάμοντο, / κὰδ δ᾽ ἄμυδις τάγε πάντα καλύψαντες πύκα δημῷ).

Catalogue of appearances

1. femurs

a. ἐπιτίθημι + μῆρα laid on the altar: From. 3.179

b. κατακαίειν + μῆρα to burn: Il. 1.464=Il. 2.427 = Od. 3.461= Od. 12.364 (formular verse), Od. 13.25;

2. legs

a. τάμνειν + μῆρα to chop off: A.Rh. 1,433