μυστήριον

Forms

μῠστήρῐον (mustḗrion) n (genitive μῠστηρῐ́ου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a derivative from Ancient Greek μύστης (mústēs, “initiate”), which goes with μυέω (muéō, “to initiate”) and μύω (mū́ō, “to close (the eyes or lips)”).^[2][3][4] Beekes takes the initiate to be “one who shuts his eyes”, in contrast with the ἐπόπτης (epóptēs, “watcher”) of the highest grade.^[2] The further origin of the verb is uncertain: Beekes gives Proto-Indo-European *meus-, *meuH- (“to shut”) with a query, while Chantraine links it with the sound μῦ (mû) made with closed lips.^[2][5]

A derivation from a Semitic word for “hiding place”, proposed in the 19th century, is rejected.^[6] Athenaeus records a pun of the tyrant Dionysius, who called mouse-holes “mysteries” as if from μῦς (mûs, “mouse”) and τηρέω (tēréō, “to watch”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Heraclitus is the first to speak of the mysteries, the secret rites, and Herodotus uses the word of the mysteries of the Cabiri on Samothrace.^[3][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Mostly in the plural, the word named secret rites of initiation, above all the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter, with their Greater and Lesser celebrations.^[3][8] It also meant the sacred objects carried in them, and Aristophanes has the proverb of the donkey that carries the mysteries, said of an overloaded beast.^[3] By extension it came to mean any secret: Plato and Menander use it so, and the doctors called a remedy they kept to themselves their “mystery”.^[3]

The Septuagint, in Daniel and the wisdom books, uses it for secrets, including political and military ones, and for God's hidden plans.^[9][4] In the New Testament it is a secret of God, now revealed, as in “the mystery of the kingdom” and Paul's “mystery of the Gospel”.^[8][3][10] Hellenistic Christian Greek came to use it for the sacraments.^[11]

It passed into Latin as mystērium, and through Latin and Old French it gave the English word mystery.^[1][12] Modern Greek μυστήριο (mystírio) means a sacrament of the Church and the ancient mysteries, and, as a semantic loan from French mystère, a medieval mystery play.^[11]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus speaks of the mysteries.^[3][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the mysteries of the Cabiri.^[3][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes quotes the proverb of the donkey carrying the mysteries.^[3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander uses it for a personal secret.^[3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the secret purposes of God, now revealed.^[8][3]
• About AD 300 – Coptic texts record the borrowing.^[13]
• Early 14th century – English borrows mystery in a theological sense.^[12]
• Modern Greek – The learned μυστήριο (mystírio) means a sacrament of the Church.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A secret rite, and in the plural the mysteries, especially those of Eleusis.^[3][8]
2. The sacred objects of the mysteries.^[3]
3. (late) An object used in magic, a talisman.^[3]
4. A secret in general; a secret remedy.^[3][9]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) A secret of God revealed, a religious truth; a hidden meaning or symbol.^[3][8][10]
6. (figurative) The military oath of the Romans.^[3]

Word family

• μυστηριώδης (mustēriṓdēs)

Related words

• μύστης (mústēs)
• μυστικός (mustikós)
• μυέω (muéō)
• μύω (mū́ō)
• Latin mystērium
• English mystery

Usage notes

Zonaras explains it from Paul's letters as the preaching of Christ and as what may not be spoken.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 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
4. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
5. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
11. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius