θυμιάω

Forms

θῡμῐάω (thūmiáō) ^[1]

Etymology

Beekes and Frisk derive it from Ancient Greek θυμός (thūmós) in that noun's old sense “smoke”, which was otherwise lost in Greek, with the verb suffix -ιάω (-iáō) as in κονιάω (koniáō).^[2][3] The noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰewH- (“smoke”), and Pokorny lists the verb as the Greek form that kept the concrete meaning, beside Latin fūmus (“smoke”), Lithuanian dūmai (“smoke”) and Old Church Slavonic дымъ (dymŭ, “smoke”).^[2][4]

Wiktionary and Mandoulides instead take it from θῦμα (thûma, “offering”), the noun of θύω (thúō, “to sacrifice”).^[1][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Sappho the perfect passive participle describes altars made fragrant with frankincense.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus uses it of burning storax and frankincense, and in the passive of hemp seed, while Pindar speaks of burning the “tears” of frankincense.^[8] Hippocratic writers use the middle for fumigating the body, Aristotle the passive of bees driven out by smoke, Theophrastus the intransitive of coals that smoke.^[8][2] In comedy it means simply to burn incense, without an object.^[8][7]

The Septuagint uses it about seventy times, chiefly for the Hebrew verb for burning incense, and in Luke it falls to Zechariah by lot to offer the incense in the Temple.^{[9][6][10][11]} Its derivatives θυμίαμα (thūmíāma) “incense” and θυμιατήριον (thūmiātḗrion) “censer” are old.^[2] Modern Greek uses θυμιατίζω (thymiatízo), a medieval verb formed from θυμιατός (thūmiātós).^[12]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho describes altars fumed with frankincense.^[7][13]
• 6th century BC – Hipponax has the Ionic aorist.^[8][13]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar speaks of burning the “tears” of frankincense.^[8][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of burning storax and frankincense, and Hippocratic writers of fumigation.^[8][2][13]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the passive of bees driven out by smoke.^[8][13]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander uses it without an object, “to burn incense”.^[8][7][13]
• Modern Greek – θυμιατίζω (thymiatízo), a medieval formation, is the verb for censing.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To burn (a substance) so that it gives off smoke, especially incense.^[8][7]
2. (intransitive) To burn incense; to make an incense offering.^[8][7][10]
3. To fumigate; to fill (a place) with fragrant smoke.^[8][7]
4. (intransitive) To give off smoke, of coals.^[8]
5. (passive) To be burnt; to pass off in fumes.^[8]

Word family

• θυμίαμα (thūmíāma)
• θυμιατός (thūmiātós)
• θυμιατήριον (thūmiātḗrion)

Related words

• θυμός (thūmós)
• θῦμα (thûma)
• θύω (thúō)
• Latin fūmus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ Μανδουλίδης, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της αρχαίας ελληνικής
6. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge