A.“ματέρος” A.Supp.539; “ματέρι” S.OC1481; μητέρος in iambics, E.HF843, Or.580, Rh.393: acc. always μητέρα, μητέρας: voc. μῆτερ:—mother, Il.1.351, etc.; of animals, dam, 17.4, Od.10.414; of a mother-bird, Il.2.313; of queen bees, Arist.HA553a29, etc.; ἀπὸ ματρὸς φίλας, ἐκ ματρός, from one's mother's womb, Pi.P.5.114, A.Ch. 422 (lyr.): in pl., mother and grandmother, Plu.Agis9; as an address to elderly women, “ὦ μῆτερ” D.S.17.37, cf. Theoc.15.60, etc.: in titles, μ. πατρίδος, = Mater Patriae, D.C.58.2; μ. τῶν ἀηττήτων στρατοπέδων, = Mater invictorum castrorum, of Julia Domna, BGU362 xi 16 (iii A.D.).
2. of lands, μ. μήλων, θηρῶν, mother of flocks, of game, Il. 2.696,8.47, etc.; freq. of Earth, “γῆ πάντων μ.” Hes.Op.563; “πὰρ μέσον ὀμφαλὸν εὐδένδροιο . . ματέρος” Pi.P.4.74; “γῆ μήτηρ” A.Th.16, etc.; “ὦ γαῖα μῆτερ” E.Hipp.601; ἡ Μήτηρ, = Δημήτηρ, τῇ Μητρὶ καὶ τῇ Κούρῃ ὁρτὴν ἄγουσι Hdt.8.65; also of Rhea, Pi.P.3.78; “ὦ Πὰν . . , Ματρὸς μεγάλας ὀπαδέ” Id.Fr.95, cf. E.Hel.1355 (lyr.); “μ. ὀρεία” Ar.Av.746 (lyr.); “Γαλλαὶ μητρὸς ὀρείης φιλόθυρσοι δρομάδες” Lyr.Adesp.121; M. “θεῶν” SIG1044.8 (Halic., iv B.C.); as title of Isis, PPetr.3p.2 (cf. p.xi) (iii B.C.).
3. freq. of one's native land, “μᾶτερ ἐμά, Θήβα” Pi.I.1.1, cf. P.8.98, A.Th.416, Isoc.4.25; and so, like μητρόπολις, Pi.O.9.20, cf. 6.100; “ἡ Σκῦρος ἀνδρῶν ἀλκίμων μ.” S.Ph.326.
II. poet., the origin or source of events, μ. ἀέθλων, of Olympia, Pi.O.8.1; “πειθαρχία γὰρ τῆς εὐπραξίας μ.” A.Th.225; “ἡ γνώμη κακῶν μ.” S.Ph.1361; of night, as the mother of day, A.Ag.265; the grape of wine, Id.Pers.614, cf. E. Alc.757; “ματέρ᾽ οἰνάνθας ὀπώραν” Pi.N.5.6; Aphrodite of the Loves, Id.Fr.122.4; φάτις ὦ μᾶτερ αἰσχύνας ἐμᾶς, of a rumour, S.Aj.174 (lyr.): also in Prose, “γεωργίαν τῶν ἄλλων τεχνῶν μητέρα” X.Oec.5.17; πολιτειῶν μητέρες δύο (sc. μοναρχία and δημοκρατία) Pl.Lg.693d. (Cf. Lat.mater, OE. módor, etc.)
