θεσμός

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /tʰez.mós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /θezˈmos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /θezˈmos/^[1]

Forms

θεσμός (thesmós) m (genitive θεσμοῦ); second declension^[1] Doric τεθμός (Pindar, Delphi), with the initial aspirate restored θεθμός in Laconian, Argive, Tegea and Isyllus, and Locrian τετθμός.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, set”): the link with the root of that verb is obvious.^[3][2] Beekes, Chantraine and Frisk explain it as the weak root form θε-, the same as in θέσις (thésis), with a suffix -σμός (-smós), or -θμός (-thmós) in the Doric τεθμός (tethmós), added within Greek.^[4][3][5] The root is Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place”).^[1][6]

The word has the same meaning as Old Irish deidmea and Welsh deddf (“act, statute”), which would require a common form *dʰedʰmo-.^[4][5] Wiktionary reconstructs it as *dʰh₁-dʰmó-s,^[1] but Beekes holds that such a reduplicated form is impossible for Greek, where it would have given a form with initial τ-.^[4] In the dialect form θεθμός (thethmós) the aspirate that dissimilation should have removed was restored after θέσις (thésis).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only Homeric example is in the Odyssey, where a couple came to the “θεσμός of the old bed”; it is disputed whether this means the bed's rights or the place where it stood.^[2][3][7] A concrete sense is supported by Hesychius' gloss “joinings of timbers” and by Anacreon's use of it for a store or treasure.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Archaic and Classical Greek it became the word for an established law or ordinance, above all a law thought to be fundamental or laid down by the gods.^[2][3][8] Solon called his own laws θεσμοί, and at Athens the word was used especially of the laws of Draco.^[2][7] Pindar's Doric τεθμός names the rule of the games, and through it the Olympian and Isthmian games themselves.^[2] Aeschylus uses it of the Areopagus as an institution.^[2]

Compounds kept the legal sense: the θεσμοθέτης (thesmothétēs), Athenian archons, and Demeter's title θεσμοφόρος (thesmophóros, “law-giver”), from which the festival Θεσμοφόρια (Thesmophória) was named.^[3] The administrative Attic προθεσμία (prothesmía) meant a time limit.^[3]

The word survives in medieval Greek and is still used.^[9] The Modern Greek θεσμός (thesmós) is a learned continuation of the ancient word and means an institution, a social relation or practice that has taken a fixed, usually legal form, such as marriage or the family.^[10][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it once, of an old bed.^[2][11]
• 7th–6th century BC – Solon uses it of his own laws.^[2][7][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the Doric form τεθμός for the rule of the games, and Aeschylus uses θεσμός of divine law.^[2][7][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of ancestral θεσμοί.^[2][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Andocides uses it of the laws of Draco.^[2][7][12]
• Modern Greek – The learned word Modern Greek θεσμός (thesmós) means an institution.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Homer) Perhaps an established place or position.^[7][3]
2. That which is laid down: a law, ordinance, especially a divine law or the fundamental laws of a city (those of Draco or Solon).^[2][7]
3. An edict of a ruler.^[7]
4. A rule, precept or rite; the appointed order of something.^[2][7]
5. An institution, such as the court of the Areopagus; in Pindar, the Olympian and Isthmian games.^[2]

Word family

• ἔνθεσμος (énthesmos)
• θέσμιος (thésmios)
• θεσμοποιέω (thesmopoiéō)
• θεσμοφύλαξ (thesmophúlax)
• θεσμοθέτης (thesmothétēs)
• θεσμοφόρος (thesmophóros)
• Θεσμοφόρια (Thesmophória)
• προθεσμία (prothesmía)

Related words

• τίθημι (títhēmi)
• θέσις (thésis)
• θέμις (thémis)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge