βλασφημέω

Forms

βλασφημέω (blasphēméō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formally from Ancient Greek βλάσφημος (blásphēmos) + -έω (-éō),^[1] but Beekes and Frisk point out that the verb and the noun βλασφημία (blasphēmíā) are attested earlier than βλάσφημος, which is rarer and on the whole later.^[2][3] They therefore take the verb as formed directly on a phrase, as ἀνδραγαθία (andragathía) is formed on ἀνήρ (anḗr) and ἀγαθός (agathós), and compare its opposite εὐφημέω (euphēméō).^[2][3]

The second element is φήμη (phḗmē, “utterance, report”).^[2][4][5] The first is uncertain: Beekes mentions the proposals βλάβος (blábos, “harm”) and μέλεος (méleos, “vain, miserable”) without deciding.^[2] The DGE and Babiniotis derive it from the aorist stem of βλάπτω (bláptō, “to harm”), with the cluster /psph/ simplified to /sph/, so that the verb would mean “to speak harmfully”.^[4][6] Beekes notes that its synonyms κερτομέω (kertoméō) and λοιδορέω (loidoréō) have no etymology either.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Attic orators of the 4th century BC, above all Isocrates, and in Plato, meaning to slander or speak ill of someone and to speak profanely of sacred things.^[7][8][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it had both a religious and a secular use: Plato uses it of speaking irreverently about the gods and of rash prayers, while the orators use it for defaming an opponent.^[8][5] In the Septuagint it means to speak impiously of God, and in the New Testament, besides reviling people, to blaspheme God or the Holy Spirit.^[9][8][10] BDAG stresses that the basic idea is to demean someone through speech, a serious matter in a society concerned with honour.^[10]

Its Late Latin borrowing blasphēmō, through the Vulgar Latin form *blastēmō, gave Old French blasmer and the English word blame.^[11] In medieval Greek the form βλαστημώ appears beside βλασφημώ, meaning to curse God or people, to call down curses, and to complain.^[12][13] It survives as the popular Modern Greek βλαστημώ (vlastimó) “to swear, to curse” beside the learned βλασφημώ (vlasfimó) “to blaspheme”.^[13][6]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates and Plato use it for slandering people and for speaking profanely of the gods.^[7][8][4]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Aeschines use it of abusive speech.^[8][4]
• Hellenistic period – The Septuagint uses it for speaking irreverently of God.^[9][8]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for blaspheming God and the Holy Spirit, and for reviling Jesus.^[5][10]
• Medieval Greek – The form βλαστημώ is used for cursing God and people.^[12][13]
• Modern Greek – Popular βλαστημώ “to swear” and learned βλασφημώ “to blaspheme” exist side by side.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To speak profanely or irreverently of the gods or sacred things; to blaspheme.^[8][5][10]
2. To speak ill of someone, slander, defame; with κατά or περί and the genitive, against or about someone.^[8][5]
3. (passive) To be spoken ill of, be reviled.^[8][5]

Word family

• βλασφημία (blasphēmíā)
• βλάσφημος (blásphēmos)

Related words

• φήμη (phḗmē)
• βλάπτω (bláptō)
• Latin blasphēmō
• English blame

Usage notes

Its antonym is εὐφημέω (euphēméō) “to speak words of good omen”, and the pairing is one reason Frisk thinks the verb older than the adjective βλάσφημος (blásphēmos).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki