θυμίαμα

Forms

θῡμῐ́ᾱμᾰ (thūmíāma) n (genitive θῡμῐᾱ́μᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek θυμιάω (thumiáō, “to burn incense, fumigate”) with the suffix -μα (-ma);^[1][2] the Ionic form is θυμίημα (thumíēma).^[3] The verb is formed from θυμός (thumós) in its old sense “smoke”, which the simple word lost in Greek.^[2]

That noun corresponds to Sanskrit धूम (dhūmá), Latin fūmus, Lithuanian dū́mai and Old Church Slavonic дымъ (dymŭ), all meaning “smoke”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sophocles uses the plural in the fourth line of Oedipus Tyrannus, and Herodotus uses the word for incense.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the plural it usually meant fragrant stuffs for burning, and Herodotus also uses it for the spices used in embalming.^[3] In the Septuagint it chiefly renders Biblical Hebrew קְטֹרֶת (qəṭōreṯ), the incense of the tabernacle, and the “altar of incense” is named after it;^[6][7] Luke speaks of “the hour of incense”, and Revelation uses the plural.^[6][4]

Wulfila's Gothic Bible keeps it as a loanword, glossed by Streitberg as “smoke offering”,^[8] and Coptic borrowed it (recorded from about AD 800).^[9] The Etymologicum Magnum offers several fanciful derivations, among them θυμοῦ ἴαμα, “a healing of the spirit”.^[10] The word continues into medieval and Modern Greek, where θυμίαμα (thymíama) is incense and, figuratively, fulsome praise.^[11][12][13]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Herodotus use it for incense, and Herodotus also for embalming spices.^[3][4]
• 2nd century BC – A papyrus from Tebtunis records it.^[3][4]
• 1st century AD – Luke and Revelation use it of temple and heavenly incense.^[4]
• About AD 800 – It is recorded in Coptic.^[9]
• Modern Greek – It means incense and, figuratively, flattery.^[12][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. Incense; usually in the plural, fragrant substances for burning.^[3][14][4]
2. An incense offering, the burning of incense.^[4][6]
3. A spice used in embalming.^[3]
4. A fumigation (against snakes).^[3]

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 d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
10. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
14. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press