καυστός

Forms

καυστός (kaustós) m (feminine καυστή, neuter καυστόν); first/second declension^[1] Also καυτός (kautós), the spelling of the inscriptions.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is the verbal adjective from Ancient Greek καίω (kaíō, “to burn”).^[4][1][5] All the forms of that verb go back to a root καυ- (kau-), and Beekes, for its further etymology, has to rely on Baltic words alone.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Euripides' Cyclops (633, in Scaliger's emendation), where the satyrs are told to take “the red-hot bar” and burn out the Cyclops's eye.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle used it in its other verbal-adjective sense, “that can be burnt”, as the opposite of ἄκαυστος (ákaustos), and Theophrastus has the comparative.^[2][3] The neuter as a noun was an offering burnt for the dead, according to Photius and Hesychius, and an inscription of Cos uses it for a whole burnt offering.^[2][7]

It survives as Modern Greek καυτός (kaftós), “hot, scalding”, which has lost the ⟨σ⟩ between two consonants after the old ⟨υ⟩ became a consonant.^[8][5][7] Modern Greek also uses it of urgent, “burning” problems.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Euripides' Cyclops speaks of a red-hot bar.^[2][3][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of what can be burnt.^[2][10][9]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses the comparative.^[2][9]
• 9th century AD – Photius explains the neuter as a burnt offering for the dead.^[2][9]
• Modern Greek – It lives on as καυτός (kaftós), “hot, scalding”.^[8][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Burnt, red-hot.^[2][3][11]
2. Combustible, that can be burnt.^[2][3][12]

Noun

1. (neuter) A burnt offering for the dead; a whole burnt offering.^[2][7]

Word family

• ἔγκαυστος (énkaustos)
• καυστικός (kaustikós)
• ὁλόκαυστος (holókaustos)
• ὑπόκαυστον (hupókauston)

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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
12. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara