κνῖσα

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /knîː.sa/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈkni.sa/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈkni.sa/^[1]

Forms

κνῖσα (knîsa) f (genitive κνῖσης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is often compared with Latin nīdor (“smell of roasting meat, vapour”), which may continue *knīdōs.^[2][1] Beekes therefore starts from a neuter s-stem, Proto-Indo-European *knīdos-, whose plural *knīd-s-h₂ gave Epic κνίση (knísē), from which κνῖσα was made secondarily.^[2] Close to it is Old Norse hniss (“strong smell, bad taste”), and a comparable origin from a verb “to push, strike” is assumed, with a possible link to κνίζω (knízō, “to scrape, to nettle”).^[2] The long /iː/ of κνῖσα, κνίδη (knídē) and the Latin word is, however, hard to explain in Indo-European terms.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, of the savour of burnt sacrifice rising to heaven with the smoke, and of the fat in which the thigh pieces of the victim were wrapped and burnt.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Homer and the Homeric Hymns it is the fragrant steam of sacrifice that the gods enjoy, and also the sacrificial fat itself; in the Odyssey fat is an ingredient of a black pudding.^[3][4] Aristophanes jokes that the savour of sacrifices must pass through the birds' city to reach the gods, and uses it of the smell of savoury cooking in general.^[3] Aristotle distinguishes it, the smoke of fat, from sooty smoke.^[3] Early Christian writers, in the Epistle to Diognetus, use it, with blood, of the offerings made to idols.^[6]

Modern Greek κνίσα (knísa) is a learned word for the smell and smoke of roasting meat.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the savour of sacrifice and for the fat caul.^[3][4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the smell of sacrifice.^[4][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for the smell of cooking.^[3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle defines it as the smoke of fat.^[3]
• Modern Greek – The learned κνίσα (knísa) means the smell of roasting meat.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The steam and smell of fat from roasting meat; the savour of a burnt sacrifice.^[3][4][2]
2. The fat caul in which the victim's flesh was wrapped and burnt; fat as an ingredient.^[3][4]

Related words

• Latin nīdor
• κνίζω (knízō)

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 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki