θυμός

Forms

θῡμός (thūmós) m (genitive θῡμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tʰūmós, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂mós (“smoke”).^[1][2] Cognate with Sanskrit धूम (dhūmá), Latin fūmus, Lithuanian dūmas, Old Church Slavonic дꙑмъ (dymŭ) and Albanian tym, all meaning “smoke”.^[1][2] The sense “smoke” survives in the derived verb θυμιάω (thūmiáō) “to burn as incense, fumigate”.^[2][3]

Because the step from “smoke” to “spirit” seemed difficult, Chantraine preferred to connect it with θύω (thū́ō) “to rush, rage”,^[3][2] as Babiniotis does;^[4] the Πάπυρος dictionary calls its etymology uncertain.^[5]

Ancient writers also derived it from that verb: Plato in the dialogue named after Cratylus from the seething of the soul, Herodian from the verb with an added /m/, and Orion from the raging of the blood (αἷμα (haîma)).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is frequent from Homer on.^[8] In the Iliad it is breath and life, which a warrior takes from his enemy; the spirit and strength of men; desire, especially for food and drink; mind, temper and will; courage; the seat of anger, and anger itself; and the heart as the seat of joy and grief.^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

In later poetry and prose it keeps the senses of spirit, courage and anger.^[6] In Plato it names the spirited element of the soul, set against reason and against appetite.^[6] The Etymologicum Magnum lists five senses and explains it as a part of the soul.^[10]

In the Septuagint it occurs over 300 times, mostly for anger, wrath and fury.^[11] In the New Testament it is passion (“the wine of her passionate immorality”) and anger, often the wrath of God.^[12] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word and its meaning.^[13] Modern Greek θυμός (thymós) means anger,^[14][5] and in psychiatry the mood or emotional tone of a person.^[5] English took learned compounds such as English dysthymia and English cyclothymia from it.^[1]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for life, spirit, desire, courage, anger and the heart.^[6][9]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho says the spirit of doves grew cold.^[6][15]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the spirited part of the soul.^[6][15]
• Septuagint – It is mostly used for anger and wrath.^[11]
• New Testament – It is used of passion and of the wrath of God.^[12]
• 12th–13th century AD – The Etymologicum Magnum lists five senses of the word.^[10][15]
• Modern Greek – It means anger.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The soul, spirit as the principle of life; breath, life.^[6][9]
2. Spirit, strength.^[6]
3. Desire, inclination, especially appetite for food and drink.^[6][9]
4. Mind, temper, will.^[6]
5. Spirit, courage.^[6]
6. The seat of anger; anger, wrath.^[6][12][11]
7. The heart as the seat of joy and grief.^[6][9]
8. (philosophy) The spirited part of the soul, set against reason and appetite.^[6]

Word family

• ἀθυμία (athūmíā)
• ἀπροθυμία (aprothūmíā)
• βαρυθυμία (baruthūmíā)
• δυσθυμία (dusthūmíā)
• ἐνθυμέομαι (enthūméomai)
• ἐνθυμία (enthūmíā)
• ἐπιθυμία (epithūmíā)
• εὐθυμία (euthūmíā)
• θυμαλγής (thūmalgḗs)

Related words

• θυμιάω (thūmiáō)
• English dysthymia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge