wife of Hector, Latin Andromache, from Greek Andromakhē, perhaps literally "whose husband excels in fighting," fem. of andromakhos "fighting with men;" see anthropo- + -machy.
Entries linking to andromache
anthropo-
before a vowel, anthrop-, word-forming element meaning "pertaining to man or human beings," from Greek anthrōpos "man; human being" (including women), as opposed to the gods, from andra (genitive andros), Attic form of Greek anēr "man" (as opposed to a woman, a god, or a boy), from PIE root *ner- (2) "man," also "vigorous, vital, strong."
Anthropos sometimes is explained as a compound of anēr and ōps (genitive ōpos) "eye, face;" so literally "he who has the face of a man." The change of -d- to -th- is difficult to explain; perhaps it is from some lost dialectal variant, or the mistaken belief that there was an aspiration sign over the vowel in the second element (as though *-dhropo-), which mistake might have come about by influence of common verbs such as horao "to see." But Beekes writes, "As no IE explanation has been found, the word is probably of substrate origin."
-machy
word-forming element meaning "battle, war, contest, fighting, warfare," from Latinized form of Greek -makhia, from makhē "a battle, fight," related to makhesthai "to fight." Beekes suspects it is from an isolated root, perhaps Pre-Greek: "In the domain of fighting and battle, old inherited expressions can hardly be expected."
*ner- 2
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "man," also "vigorous, vital, strong."
It forms all or part of: Alexander; Andrew; andro-; androgynous; android; Andromache; Andromeda; andron; anthropo-; anthropocentric; anthropology; anthropomorphous; Leander; lycanthropy; Lysander; misanthrope; pachysandra; philander; philanthropy; polyandria; polyandrous.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit nar-, Armenian ayr, Welsh ner "a man;" Greek aner (genitive andros) "a man, a male" (as opposed to a woman, a youth, or a god).