θαῦμα

Forms

θαῦμᾰ (thaûma) n (genitive θαύμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, one of a group with θάμβος (thámbos) and τέθηπα (téthēpa) that shows a Pre-Greek labial or ⟨ϝ⟩.^[2][3] He finds support in the Ionic form θῶμα (thôma), whose ⟨ω⟩ beside ⟨αυ⟩ cannot be explained in Indo-European terms, and Herodotus also writes θῶυμα (thôuma).^[2][4] Beekes allows, without being sure of it, that the word may be a verbal noun of a verb “to look”, the one in θέα (théā) and θεάομαι (theáomai).^[2]

That is the older view: Frisk takes the two forms as ablaut grades of a verbal noun meaning “a thing to look at”, and Chantraine reports the usual derivation of ⟨θαυ-⟩ from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w-, though he notes that the vowel of the ⟨ω⟩-form is unexplained.^[4][5] Wiktionary sets out the traditional reconstruction, an extension of *dʰeh₂- with no clear cognate outside Greek, and names Proto-Germanic *dawāną (“to marvel”) as a possible one.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, mostly in the phrase “a wonder to behold”: in the Iliad and the Odyssey it is always singular and names the thing that causes wonder.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Homer and Hesiod the word names a marvel: a beautiful woman, the giant Polyphemus, a finely made object or building.^[7][6] From the Odyssey on it also names the feeling, astonishment, as in “wonder holds me”.^[6][7] After Homer the plural appears, and the phrase “no wonder” became common in Attic.^[6] Herodotus uses the Ionic θῶμα in phrases for “being astonished”.^[6]

In Attic Greek the plural also named the shows of entertainers: Plato speaks of puppet shows, Xenophon of the stunts of acrobats and Isocrates of menageries, and Aristotle calls mechanical devices by the same word.^[6][7] In the New Testament it is “a wonder”, in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and in later Christian texts such as the Martyrdom of Polycarp a miracle.^[9]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word.^[10] It survives as Modern Greek θαύμα (thávma), now chiefly a miracle, something that natural laws cannot explain.^[11] Triantafyllidis treats it as a learned form of the ancient word.^[11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of a marvellous sight, “a wonder to behold”.^[8][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the same way.^[8][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus writes the Ionic form θῶμα and uses it for astonishment.^[6][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the plural for puppet shows, and Xenophon for the tricks of entertainers.^[6][7][13]
• New Testament – The Second Epistle to the Corinthians uses it for a marvel.^[9]
• Modern Greek – It means a miracle.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wonder, marvel: a thing, event or sight that causes astonishment.^[6][7]
2. Of a person or animal admired for beauty, size or strength.^[7]
3. Of a finely made object or building.^[7]
4. (chiefly in the plural) A puppet show; a juggler's or acrobat's trick; a mechanical device.^[6][7]
5. Astonishment, wonder.^[6][7]
6. (New Testament and later) A miracle, portent.^[9]

Word family

• θαυμάζω (thaumázō)
• θαυμαίνω (thaumaínō)
• θαυμάσιος (thaumásios)
• θαυματοποιός (thaumatopoiós)
• θαυματουργός (thaumatourgós)

Related words

• θάμβος (thámbos)
• θεάομαι (theáomai)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c 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 c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
13. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge