κίνημα

Forms

κῑ́νημᾰ (kī́nēma) n (genitive κῑνήμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κινέω (kinéō, “to move”) + -μα (-ma), a noun of result from the verb.^[1][2][3] Beekes traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *ḱeih₂- (“to set in motion”), and notes that the active present is found only in Attic, beside the Homeric middle κίνυμαι (kínumai, “to move to and fro”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest texts with the word are Hippocratic: the treatise On Fractures uses the plural as a medical term for the partial dislocation of a bone.^[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle used it in the Physics for a single movement, the unit that motion would be made of if it could be divided, and he denied that it could: “neither is a line made of points, nor motion of movements”.^[5] Polybius and Plutarch applied it to a political movement or rising, and the Septuagint and Plutarch to an uproar.^[5][3][7] Epicurus and the Stoics spoke of the “movements” of the flesh and the soul, that is, sense impressions and emotions, and Isocrates of the turns of fortune.^[5][3] Lucian used it of the gestures of pantomime dancers, Galen of the stages of a disease, and the grammarians of inflection.^[5][3][8]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the ancient noun with its meaning.^[9] Modern Greek κίνημα (kínima) is a learned word: its sense of a coup or rising continues the Hellenistic political sense, while that of an organized movement (a peace movement, a literary movement) is a semantic loan from French mouvement.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic treatise On Fractures uses it of a partial dislocation of a bone.^[5][3][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in the Physics for a single movement.^[5][12]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of a political movement.^[5][8][12]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of political movements and of uproar.^[5][3][12]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of the movements of pantomime dancers.^[5][3][12]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts keep the ancient noun and its meaning.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned κίνημα (kínima) means a coup or rising and, after French, an organized movement.^[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Motion, a single movement; the gestures of a pantomime dancer.^[5][3][8]
2. A political movement, a rising; uproar, excitement.^[5][3][7]
3. (philosophy) A stirring of the senses or the soul: a sense impression, an emotion.^[5][3]
4. A turn of fortune.^[3]
5. (medicine) A partial dislocation of a bone, subluxation; a stage in the course of a disease.^[5][3]
6. (grammar) Inflection of a word.^[5][3][8]

Related words

• κίνησις (kínēsis)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ 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 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
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b c d Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge