Etymologically
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κιννάμωμον

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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)

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