καμάρα

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ka.má.raː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /kaˈma.ra/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /kaˈma.ra/^[1]

Forms

κᾰμᾰ́ρᾱ (kamárā) f (genitive κᾰμᾰ́ρᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3] It recalls Avestan kamarā (kamarā, “girdle”), whose meaning is different but appears in the Hesychius glosses καμάρη (kamárē) and καμαρίς (kamarís), which Frisk thinks were borrowed from Iranian.^[2][4] Latin camurus (“curved (of horns), vaulted”) has also been compared.^[2][4] Other comparisons, with Sanskrit क्मरति (kmárati, “is crooked”) or with Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (himins, “heaven”), remain uncertain.^[2]

Beekes thinks it is rather a loanword, perhaps from an eastern language; a scholiast on Oribasius calls it Carian.^[2] Wiktionary suggests an Old Iranian source, *kamarā- (“something curved”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded use is in Herodotus (1.199), for covered wagons with vaulted roofs.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Hellenistic and later Greek it is a vault or vaulted room, and a wagon or boat with a vaulted cover (the Septuagint, Strabo, inscriptions and papyri).^[2][4] The Septuagint has it in Isaiah (40:22).^[5] Its derivatives include καμαρόω (kamaróō) “to vault”.^[2]

Latin borrowed it as camera, which passed on into Germanic and Balto-Slavic.^[2][3] Medieval Greek kept καμάρα and also borrowed back the Latin form as κάμαρα “room”.^[6][7] Modern Greek καμάρα continues the ancient word.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for covered wagons.^[5][2]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it.^[2][5]
• 1st century BC – 1st century AD – Strabo uses it for vaults.^[2][8]
• Medieval – Greek borrows back the Latin camera as κάμαρα.^[6][7]
• Modern Greek – καμάρα continues the ancient word.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vault; a vaulted room.^[2][4]
2. A covered wagon or boat with a vaulted roof.^[2][4]

Related words

• Latin camera
• English chamber

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge