Etymologically
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θυμός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /tʰyː.mós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /θyˈmos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /θyˈmos/[1]

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)
  • 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