θεμέλιος

Forms

θεμέλῐος (themélios) m or f (neuter θεμέλῐον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes and Frisk take it as the adjective from Ancient Greek θεμέλια (themélia, “foundations”), “belonging to the foundations”, used as a noun for the foundation stone.^[2][3] Homer has the plural only in the metrically lengthened form θεμείλια (themeília), beside θέμεθλα (thémethla) of the same meaning.^[2][3] Both are formations with the suffixes -λο- (-lo-) and -θλο- (-thlo-) from a nominal stem in ⟨-μ-⟩, seen in Hesychius' θεμούς (themoús), and go back to the root of τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”), Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, set”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary reconstructs *dʰh₁-m-eló-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristophanes' Birds (5th century BC) speaks of foundation stones, and Thucydides uses the masculine plural for the foundations of the walls of Athens, laid with stones of every kind.^[5][6][4]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle uses the masculine for a foundation stone, and the neuter θεμέλιον, mostly in the plural, appears beside it from the 3rd century BC.^[5] The phrase “from the foundations” meant completely, of a house burnt or of people utterly mistaken or ruined.^[5] Figuratively it was the foundation of an art or of ignorance, and Epicurus calls the first principles the foundations of the world.^[5]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is the foundation of a building and of the heavenly city, and Paul calls Christ the only foundation that can be laid.^[6] Medieval Greek kept the noun, as Cypriot does today.^[7] Modern Greek has the learned adjective θεμέλιος (themélios) “fundamental”, and the noun θεμέλιο (themélio), mostly in the plural, “foundations”.^[8][4]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of the foundations of the city walls, and Aristophanes of foundation stones.^[5][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the masculine of a foundation stone and the neuter plural of foundations.^[5]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use the neuter θεμέλιον.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses “from the foundations” figuratively.^[5][6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular medieval Greek still has the noun.^[7]
• Modern Greek – θεμέλιο (themélio) means foundation, and the learned θεμέλιος (themélios) fundamental.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for the foundation.^[5]

Noun

1. A foundation stone.^[5][6]
2. The foundations of a building or wall.^[5][6] (figurative) The foundation of something.^[5][6]

Word family

• θεμελιόω (themelióō)
• θεμελίωσις (themelíōsis)

Related words

• θέμεθλα (thémethla)
• θεμόω (themóō)
• θέμις (thémis)
• τίθημι (títhēmi)

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. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f 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
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki