Is Artemis's name related to the word for "bear"?

That connection is often proposed, linking Artemis to arktos, "bear," and to the Arkteia ritual at Brauron where young girls dedicated to her were called "little bears." It is a popular and evocative theory, but it is not the accepted linguistic derivation of the name - it remains one hypothesis among several unproven ones.

Artemis

Artemis's name has no widely agreed etymology; the vowel pattern in its earliest attested forms points scholars toward a pre-Greek origin, alongside several unproven Greek and Anatolian theories.

No accepted etymology

By Mythographia Editorial Team Reviewed by Mythographia Editorial Team Updated 2026-09-05

Meaning

Artemis's name is attested very early, appearing in Mycenaean Linear B in two forms, a-te-mi-to and a-ti-mi-te, which alternate between the vowels e and i in the same position. Ordinary Greek word-formation does not easily produce this kind of alternation, and Robert S. P. Beekes, along with the linguist Georgios Babiniotis, has pointed to exactly this irregularity as evidence that the name belongs to the pre-Greek substrate layer of the Aegean rather than to inherited Indo-European Greek vocabulary. On this view, "Artemis" is one more major goddess name, alongside Athena and Hera, whose form Greek borrowed rather than built. Several other theories circulate without having displaced this pre-Greek hypothesis. One connects Artemis to Anatolia directly: in Lydia, in western Asia Minor, a goddess called Artimus was venerated, and some scholars see this as either a cognate or the actual source of the Greek name. Ancient Greek writers themselves offered their own folk etymologies, in the manner Plato uses throughout the Cratylus for other divine names - linking Artemis to ártamos, "butcher," a grim reading fitting a hunting goddess, or to artemēs, "safe, unharmed, whole," fitting her role protecting the young and the vulnerable. A further popular theory ties her name to arktos, "bear," pointing to the Arkteia, a ritual at Brauron near Athens in which young girls dedicated to Artemis were called "little bears." None of these theories has become the accepted answer. What can be said honestly is that Artemis's name is very old, shows signs of not being native Greek vocabulary, and attracted vivid ancient explanations that tell us more about how Greeks understood her cult and character than about where her name actually came from.

What does the name Artemis mean?

There is no widely agreed answer. The name's earliest forms, from Mycenaean Linear B, show an unusual vowel alternation that leads Robert S. P. Beekes and Georgios Babiniotis to argue it is pre-Greek in origin, meaning it likely predates the arrival of Greek speakers rather than deriving from a Greek root.

Did the ancient Greeks have their own explanation for Artemis's name?

Yes - ancient writers linked it by folk etymology to ártamos, "butcher," fitting her as a hunting goddess, or to artemēs, "safe, unharmed," fitting her role protecting the young. These are ancient speculations rather than accurate linguistic history, but they show how Greeks themselves connected the name to her character.

Is Artemis's name connected to Anatolia?

Possibly. A goddess named Artimus was worshipped in Lydia, in western Asia Minor, and some scholars treat this as a related or even source form of the Greek name. This fits the broader pattern of a pre-Greek or Anatolian origin, though it has not been proven as the definitive source.

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Character Artemis