γάμος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ɡá.mos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈɣa.mos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈɣa.mos/^[1]

Forms

γᾰ́μος (gámos) m (genitive γᾰ́μου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes and Frisk regard it as a back-formation from the verb γαμέω (gaméō, “to marry”);^[2][3] the DGE allows the reverse, and Wiktionary derives the verb from the noun.^[4][1]

The verb has no cognates outside Greek.^[2][3] Its connection with γέντο (génto) and γέμω (gémō) is uncertain, and it is probably related to γαμβρός (gambrós).^[2][3] Beekes gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *ǵem- (“to marry”).^[2][3][1]

Ancient grammarians derived it from δαμάζω (damázō) “to tame”, after Homer's use of that verb for wedded women, from “two together”, or from γεννάω (gennáō) “to beget”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for the arranging of a marriage, for the wedding and its feast (“weddings and banquets”), and for wedlock itself.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Tragedy often uses the plural for a single marriage, and Sophocles uses it by metonymy for the bride.^[8][7] It could also mean a sexual union outside marriage: the union of Heaven and Earth (Aeschylus), rape by a god (Euripides), and in Demosthenes' sneer at “daytime marriages”, prostitution.^[8][7] Plato speaks of “sacred marriages” in the Republic, and papyri of the 2nd century AD distinguish marriage by written contract from marriage by oral agreement.^[4]

In the New Testament it is the wedding feast of the parable in Matthew 22 and the wedding of John 2, and the Letter to the Hebrews says that marriage is to be honoured by all.^[9][4] Medieval Greek kept both the ceremony and the union, and Modern Greek γάμος (gámos) is also one of the seven sacraments of the Church.^[10][11]

English monogamy and English polygamy come through Late Latin from Greek compounds of the word, and English bigamy is a Latin–Greek hybrid.^[12]

Timeline

• Homer – marriage, wedding, wedding feast.^[6][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the plural for a single marriage.^[7][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato writes of “sacred marriages”.^[4]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes speaks of “daytime marriages”, meaning prostitution.^[7][8][4]
• 1st century AD – the New Testament: wedding feasts; marriage held in honour.^[9][4]
• 2nd century AD – papyri distinguish written and unwritten marriages.^[4]
• Modern Greek – γάμος, also a sacrament of the Church.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Marriage, the contracting or state of marriage; in poetry often plural for singular.^[8][7]
2. A wedding, or (plural) wedding celebrations.^[8][7]
3. (euphemistic) A sexual union outside marriage: rape by a god or, in Demosthenes, prostitution.^[8]
4. (metonymy, Sophocles) The bride.^[8]

Word family

• γαμέω (gaméō)
• γαμικός (gamikós)
• μονογαμία (monogamíā)

Related words

• γαμβρός (gambrós)
• γαμέτης (gamétēs)
• γαμήλιος (gamḗlios)
• English polygamy
• English monogamy
• English bigamy

Usage notes

As a name, Gamos is a month at Epidaurus in inscriptions of the 4th century BC and, in Nonnus, a son of Eros.^[4]

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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com