εὐφημισμός

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /eu̯.pʰɛː.miz.mós/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /eɸ.ɸi.mizˈmos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ef.fi.mizˈmos/^[1]

Forms

εὐφημισμός (euphēmismós) m (genitive εὐφημισμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from εὐφημίζω (euphēmízō, “to speak words of good omen”) with the suffix -ισμός (-ismós).^[1] The verb is from εὔφημος (eúphēmos, “of good omen”), formed from εὖ (eû, “well”) and φήμη (phḗmē, “speech, omen”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philodemus uses the phrase ἀπ᾽ εὐφημισμοῦ, “by way of euphemism”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was the use of an auspicious word in place of an ill-omened one, such as Εὐμενίδες “the Kindly Ones” for the Erinyes, or εὐφρόνη “the kindly time” for night.^[2] The treatise On Style ascribed to Demetrius, Cornutus, Palaephatus, Hermogenes and Eustathius use it, often in the phrase κατ᾽ εὐφημισμόν.^[2]

Modern Greek ευφημισμός (efimismós) is a figure of speech that replaces an ill-omened word with one of opposite meaning, as when vinegar is called γλυκάδι “the sweet”, and κατ᾽ ευφημισμόν is said of a flattering name that does not fit.^[3]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses it.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Cornutus uses κατ᾽ εὐφημισμόν.^[2]
• 2nd century AD – Hermogenes uses it in rhetoric.^[2]
• 12th century – Eustathius uses it for Eumenides and similar names.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rhetoric) A euphemism, the use of an auspicious word for an inauspicious one.^[2][1]

Related words

• εὐφημίζω (euphēmízō)
• εὔφημος (eúphēmos)
• φήμη (phḗmē)
• English euphemism

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki