βλάσφημος

Forms

βλᾰ́σφημος (blásphēmos) m or f (neuter βλᾰ́σφημον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Its second element is from Ancient Greek φήμη (phḗmē, “utterance, report”); the first is uncertain, and words such as βλάβος (blábos, “harm”) and μέλεος (méleos, “vain”) have been proposed.^[2] Beekes notes that the verb βλασφημέω (blasphēméō) and the noun βλασφημία (blasphēmíā) seem older than the adjective, which is rare and late, a relation he compares with that of ἀνδραγαθία (andragathíā) to the phrase “good man”.^[2]

Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Hellenic *mləspʰāmos, with a first element from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“to deceive”), a link Beekes does not accept.^[1][2]

Byzantine etymologists derived it from βλάβη (blábē, “harm”) and the noun for utterance, or from βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”), as one who “throws” insults.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 4th-century orators: Isocrates and Demosthenes use it of words that are slanderous or abusive.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle applies it to a person, the evil-speaking poet Archilochus, and Plutarch and Lucian use it with a genitive for words that slander someone or something.^[5][7][6] In the ancient language it described words of ill omen.^[8][7]

The Septuagint (2 Maccabees, Wisdom) and the New Testament give it the religious sense of speaking against God, and use it as a noun for a blasphemer.^[9][10][7] It was borrowed as Latin blasphemus.^[1] The modern βλάσφημος (vlásfimos) is a learned word continuing the medieval adjective.^[8][11]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates uses it of slanderous speeches.^[4][5]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Aristotle use it of abusive words and of an evil-speaking poet.^[5][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament has it of blasphemous words and of a blasphemer, as the Septuagint had done.^[10][7][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it with the genitive of what is slandered.^[7][5]
• Modern Greek – The word is a learned survival, βλάσφημος (vlásfimos).^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Speaking ill-omened or abusive words, evil-speaking; with the genitive, slandering.^[7][5]
2. (of words) Slanderous, defamatory.^[7][6]
3. (Septuagint, New Testament) Blasphemous; as a noun, a blasphemer.^[7][10][9]

Word family

• βλασφημέω (blasphēméō)
• βλασφημία (blasphēmíā)

Related words

• φήμη (phḗmē)
• Latin blasphemus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr