βόμβος
Pronunciation
- 5th-century BC Attic: /bóm.bos/[1]
- 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈβom.bos/[1]
- 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈvom.bos/[1]
Forms
βόμβος (bómbos) m (genitive βόμβου); second declension[1]
Etymology
It is probably onomatopoeic.[2][3][4] Beekes notes that πέμφιξ (pémphix) and πομφόλυξ (pomphóluks), variants of βέμβιξ (bémbix), show typical Pre-Greek features, such as the variation of /p/, /b/ and /ph/ and the suffixes in -ακ- and -ῑκ-,[5] and Wiktionary therefore calls it an onomatopoeic word from the Pre-Greek substrate.[2][5][1] Similar sound words are Lithuanian bim̃balas and Latvian bam̃bals “beetle” and Old Norse bumla (“drum”).[2][1] Chantraine sees a group of expressive words for whirling and humming, motion and sound closely joined, and the DGE likewise calls it a reduplicated expressive form for turning, with a sound associated with it.[6][7]
Earliest recorded meaning
Its earliest uses are in the 5th century BC: Hippocrates' Coan Prenotions uses it for a buzzing in the ears, and Plato's Protagoras for a booming sound.[3][8][9]
Semantic evolution
In Classical Greek it is a booming or humming sound,[3] and Aristophanes uses it for the drone of the aulos, and also has a barbarous neuter βόμβο.[3][10] Aristotle uses it in his work on respiration, Epicurus of thunder, Galen of rumbling in the intestines, and Heliodorus of the booming of a wind.[3]
It was borrowed into Latin as bombus.[11][2] From the Latin word come Italian bomba, French bombe and English bomb, probably named for the sound.[12] Modern Greek has βόμβος (vómvos) as a learned word.[4]
Timeline
- 5th century BC – Hippocrates uses it for a buzzing in the ears.[3][7]
- 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a booming sound, and Aristophanes for the drone of the aulos.[3][10][7]
- 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in his work on respiration.[3][7]
- 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for rumbling in the intestines.[3][7]
- 3rd century AD – Heliodorus uses it of the booming of a wind.[3][7]
- 1580s – English bomb is recorded, ultimately from this word through Latin.[12]
- Modern Greek – It is a learned word, Modern Greek βόμβος (vómvos).[4]
Meanings
Noun
- A booming or humming sound.[3][10]
- The drone of the aulos.[10]
- (medicine) A buzzing in the ears; a rumbling in the intestines.[3]
- The rumble of thunder.[3]
Word family
- βομβέω (bombéō)
- βομβυλιός (bombuliós)
- βόμβυξ (bómbūx)
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
- ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
- ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
- ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
- ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com