αἴνιγμα

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ǎi̯.niŋ.ma/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈɛ.niɣ.ma/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈe.niɣ.ma/^[1]

Forms

αἴνῐγμᾰ (aínigma) n (genitive αἰνῐ́γμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from αἰνίσσομαι (ainíssomai, “to speak in riddles”), with the suffix of result nouns -μα (-ma).^[2][1][3] That verb comes from αἶνος (aînos, “meaningful speech, tale”), and its sense shifted from “to make a meaningful speech” to “to speak darkly”.^[4][2] The origin of αἶνος is unknown.^[2] Pokorny's comparison with Germanic words for “oath” such as Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (aiþs) is mostly rejected.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use is in a fragment of Pindar, of the riddle that the Sphinx put “from her savage jaws”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it is a riddle in the narrow sense, especially the Sphinx's, which Oedipus solves, and also any veiled or allusive speech: in the Agamemnon Cassandra's way of speaking is “out of riddles”.^[3][5][6] Plato uses it for a puzzle posed as a test, and Aristotle's Poetics defines it as a figure made up entirely of metaphors.^[3][5] The Pythagoreans were said to teach by riddling maxims.^[5]

In the Septuagint it renders the “dark sayings” of the wise, and Paul's “we see through a mirror en ainigmati” has been read as “in a riddle” or as “indirectly, by reflection”.^[7][8] Latin borrowed it as aenigma, which reached English as enigma in the 1530s.^[1][9] Modern Greek αίνιγμα (ainigma) is a learned word for a riddle and for anything hard to understand.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of the Sphinx's riddle.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for veiled, oblique speech.^[3][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle's Poetics treats it as a figure built of metaphors.^[3][5]
• 1st century AD – Paul writes that we now see “through a mirror, in a riddle”.^[8][6]
• 1530s – English borrows enigma, through Latin.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dark saying; veiled or allusive speech.^[3][6]
2. A riddle posed as a puzzle or test, such as the Sphinx's.^[3][5]
3. (rhetoric) A figure composed entirely of metaphors.^[3][5]
4. A puzzling situation or problem.^[3]
5. (New Testament) An indirect image, as in a mirror.^[8][5]
6. (Theban) An ambush.^[6][5]

Word family

• αἰνιγματώδης (ainigmatṓdēs)
• αἰνιγματικός (ainigmatikós)

Related words

• αἶνος (aînos)
• αἰνίσσομαι (ainíssomai)
• Latin aenigma
• English enigma

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki