Abstract
The paper shows that the thematic form μάρτυρος in Homer is metrically conditioned. The only old form is the athematic μάρτυς < μάρτυρς. This leads to a reexamination of Frisk’s explanation for μάρτυς, which is only partially correct. The word probably goes back to *(s)mer- ‘to have in mind, to remember’, as assumed by Frisk, but it is a compound, not a derivative. The paper argues that the second member of the compound is a root noun of *ter(H)- ‘to bind’, a root found in Greek σειρά ‘rope’ and σορός ‘funerary urn’, and otherwise attested only in Baltic and Slavic. The witness is the ‘memory-binding’ one, which agrees with the older meaning of μάρτυς in Homer and that of its denominative μαρτύρομαι.
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