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