κιννάμωμον

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kin.ná.mɔː.mon/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /cinˈna.mo.mon/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /cinˈna.mo.mon/^[1]

Forms

κῐννᾰ́μωμον (kinnámōmon) n (genitive κῐννᾰμώμου); second declension^[1] Also κινάμωμον; later κίνναμον (Nicander, Pliny).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a Semitic loanword: Herodotus says that the Greeks learned the name from the Phoenicians, borrowed from Phoenician.^[2][5][4] Compare Hebrew קִנָּמוֹן (qinnāmôn, “cinnamon”), which the Septuagint renders with it.^[2][4] The ending was shaped after ἄμωμον (ámōmon), another spice plant, or by folk etymology after ἄμωμος (ámōmos, “blameless”).^[2][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus describes it among the spices of Arabia, and tells how the dry sticks “which we call κινάμωμον, having learned the word from the Phoenicians” were gathered.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Theophrastus says that the aromatics came partly from India and partly from Arabia, cinnamon and cassia among them.^[4][3] It is usually identified as a superior kind of cassia, Cinnamomum cassia, though Hennig argued that it was some other fragrant substance.^[3][2] Aristotle names a fabulous Indian bird after it, said to build its nest from cinnamon twigs.^[3][2]

Inscriptions and papyri of the 3rd century BC record it.^[3][7] The Septuagint uses it for the Hebrew word, and the Revelation of John lists it.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus describes cinnamon and says the word came from the Phoenicians.^[4][2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle names the cinnamon bird, and Antiphanes has κινναμώμινος “made with cinnamon”.^[3][2][8]
• 3rd century BC – an inscription from Didyma and papyri record it.^[3]
• 1st century AD – the Revelation of John lists it.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. cinnamon, a superior kind of cassia (Cinnamomum cassia).^[3][6][1]
2. The cinnamon bird, a fabulous Indian bird.^[3]

Word family

• κίνναμον (kínnamon)
• κινναμώμινος (kinnamṓminos)
• κινναμολόγος (kinnamológos)

Related words

• English cinnamon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge