καιρός

Forms

καιρός (kairós) m (genitive καιροῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3] Beekes and Frisk list several proposals: a link with κείρω (keírō, “to cut”), the word being the “decisive moment” or a cut section of time, as Wilamowitz argued and as Latin discrīmen is compared; with κεράννυμι (keránnūmi, “to mix”), which Benveniste developed as an “atmospheric mix”, though it is complicated in form; with κύρω (kū́rō, “to meet by chance”), which is phonetically difficult; and with Sanskrit काल (kālá-, “time”), which is phonetically impossible.^[2][4][3] Chantraine also mentions κρίνω (krī́nō, “to decide”), and notes that every hypothesis has phonetic problems.^[3][5] Wiktionary says Beekes seems to favour the link with cutting, and mentions that the archaic Albanian qëro (“time”) may be related to it or borrowed from it.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Hesiod's Works and Days (694), in the line “due measure is best in everything”, which became a proverb.^[6][7][5]

Semantic evolution

Its earliest sense is due measure or proportion, and Theognis and Pindar use it so;^[6] Aeschylus has καιροῦ πέρα, “beyond measure”.^[6][8] It also meant the mark aimed at, and a vital spot of the body where a blow is fatal, the sense of the derivative καίριος (kaírios).^[8][6][2] From the 5th century BC the commonest sense is temporal: the right or critical moment, the opportunity, with adverbial phrases such as ἐν καιρῷ, “in season”.^[6][8] Hippocratic medicine speaks of the critical time, and Aristotle of the periodic states of the body.^[6]

From Polybius on it is simply a time or period, and in the plural “the times”, often troubled ones.^[6] The Septuagint and the New Testament use it for seasons and fixed times and for a time of crisis, especially the end time.^[9][10]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept these senses and added that of the weather.^[11][12] In Modern Greek καιρός (kerós) the weather is now the first sense, beside “time, period”.^[12]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days praises due measure (καιρός) in everything.^[6][13]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses καιροῦ πέρα, “beyond measure”.^[6][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for the right moment.^[6][8][13]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a period of time.^[6][13]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for fixed and critical times.^[10]
• Medieval Greek – Vernacular texts use it for the weather.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Due measure, proportion; καιροῦ πέρα, beyond measure.^[6][8]
2. The target aimed at; a vital part of the body.^[8][6]
3. What is fitting in the circumstances, propriety; καιρός (ἐστι), it is fitting.^[8]
4. The right or critical moment, opportunity; ἐν καιρῷ, in season.^[6][8]
5. A season of the year; a time of day.^[6]
6. (Hellenistic) A time, period; in the plural, the times, the state of affairs.^[6]
7. (New Testament) A fixed time; a time of crisis, the last times.^[10]

Word family

• καίριος (kaírios)
• καιροφυλακέω (kairophulakéō)

Related words

• εὔκαιρος (eúkairos)
• ἄκαιρος (ákairos)

Usage notes

A separate word καῖρος, with a different accent, was a weaving term for the row of thrums on the loom to which the threads of the warp were tied; its derivative καιρόεις lies behind the Homeric καιροσέων (Odyssey 7.107).^[2][6][3] Its origin is also unclear.^[2]

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. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b 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 c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge