- μαῖα
- μαῖα, ἡ,A good mother, form of address to old women, Hom. (only in Od.), always in voc., usu. addressed to Eurycleia, the nurse of Odysseus, Od.19.482, al.; but also to Eurynome the ταμίη, 17.499: hence not only of nurses, cf. h.Cer.147, Ar.Ec.915 (lyr.).2 later, foster-mother, E.Hipp.243 (anap.), Antiph.159.6; also, a true mother,
μαῖα δὴ κάτω βέβακεν E.Alc.393
(lyr.): metaph., of the earth,ἰὼ γαῖα μαῖα A.Ch.44
(lyr.), cf. S.Fr.959.3 midwife, Pl.Tht. 149a, Isyll.54, Sor.2.3, al., etc.b lady doctor, Gal.14.641.4 in [dialect] Dor., grandmother, Iamb.VP11.56, IG12(3).1120 ([place name] Melos).II large kind of crab, Arist.HA525b4, al.III a plant, = λεπίδιον, Orib.Fr.102. (Prob. from same Root as μήτηρ.)
Greek-English dictionary (Αγγλικά Ελληνικά-λεξικό). 2014.