κρίμα

Forms

κρῐ́μᾰ (kríma) n (genitive κρῐ́μᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κρίνω (krínō, “to judge, decide”) + -μα (-ma), with the suffix of nouns of result.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Aeschylus' Suppliants, where a matter is called not easy to judge; the reading there is doubtful.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

After Aeschylus the word is not found again until the Hellenistic period, when it becomes common.^[2][5] Chrysippus and Polybius use it for a decision or judgement, Dionysius of Halicarnassus for a decree of the people, and inscriptions and papyri from the 3rd century BC on for the ruling of a court or of arbitrators.^[2][4] The Septuagint has it for a lawsuit, for a sentence of condemnation and for God's ordinances.^[2][6][7]

In the New Testament it is judging in general, God's judgement, and above all condemnation; the Epistle to the Romans speaks of God's decisions, and 1 Corinthians of believers' lawsuits with one another.^[7][2][3] The Etymologicum Magnum lists condemnation and judgement as its senses.^[8]

In medieval vernacular Greek it came to mean, besides a trial or a penalty, a punishable act, a moral fault or sin, an injustice and a misfortune.^[9][3] Modern Greek κρίμα (kríma) keeps the sense “sin”, and is mostly used for “a pity”, as in an exclamation of regret.^[10] The Coptic texts borrowed it as Coptic ⲕⲣⲓⲙⲁ (krima).^[11]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it, in a doubtful reading, for a matter to be judged.^[2][4]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus uses it for a decision, a papyrus for a legal ruling, and the Septuagint for a lawsuit and a sentence.^[2][5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a decision, and a Delphic inscription for a court ruling.^[2][4]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it for a decree of the people.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for judgement and condemnation, and for lawsuits.^[7][2]
• 7th century AD – Coptic manuscripts have it as a loanword from 675.^[11]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for a penalty, a sin, an injustice and a misfortune.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The word means a sin and, above all, a pity.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A matter for judgement, a question to decide.^[2][4]
2. A decision or judgement; a verdict on a literary work.^[2][4]
3. A decree or resolution of an assembly or council.^[2][7]
4. (law) The ruling of a court or of arbitrators; especially a sentence of condemnation.^[2][4]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) A lawsuit.^[2][7]
6. (New Testament) The act of judging, judgement, especially God's judgement and condemnation.^[2][7][4]

Related words

• κρίνω (krínō)
• κρίσις (krísis)
• κατάκριμα (katákrima)

Usage notes

LSJ notes that the ι is long in Aeschylus and short in later poetry, and that the manuscripts often write the word κρίμα; the accent κρῖμα is discussed in the New Testament grammars.^[2][7]

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 o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig