οἶμα

Forms

οἶμα (oîma), genitive οἴματος, neuter, third declension.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃eis- (“to move quickly”), through an older *οἶσμα (*oîsma).^[3][4] Beekes and Frisk compare Avestan aēšma- (“anger”), a primary noun beside an Indo-Iranian verb meaning “to set in quick motion, drive forward” (Avestan išiieiti), and Latin īra (“anger”), which belongs to the same group.^[3][4][5] Within Greek they connect ὀϊστός (oïstós, “arrow”) and οἶστρος (oîstros, “gadfly”), and Beekes also, more doubtfully, ἰαίνω (iaínō).^[3][4]

The Homeric aorist οἰμῆσαι (oimêsai, “to swoop”) presupposes a present *οἰμάω (*oimáō) that is never found, and both the verb and the o-vowel of οἶμα seem to require a noun *οἶμος (*oîmos) or *οἴμη (*oímē) beside an original neuter *εἶμα (*eîma).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the spring or swoop of a beast of prey: a warrior attacks “having the spring of a lion” (οἶμα λέοντος ἔχων, Iliad 16.752), and another “having the swoops of an eagle” (Iliad 21.252), in the plural.^[1][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The word is rare: GLAUx counts eight occurrences in six texts, nearly all in epic poetry and in lexica explaining Homer.^[7] The related aorist οἰμῆσαι (oimêsai) is used in the Iliad and the Odyssey of birds of prey and of men compared to them, and an oracle quoted by Herodotus has the future οἰμήσουσι of tunny fish darting into a net.^[3][4]

Later epic poets kept the Homeric noun: Oppian has it in his poem on fishing, and Quintus of Smyrna uses it of the attack of a serpent.^[7][1][3] Hesychius explains it with ὁρμή (hormḗ, “rush, onset”), and also records a noun οἴμημα (oímēma) in the same sense.^[8][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the spring of a lion and, in the plural, the swoop of an eagle, in comparisons for warriors.^[6][1]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus quotes an oracle with the related future οἰμήσουσι “they will dart”.^[3][4][9]
• 2nd century AD – Oppian uses it in the Halieutica.^[7][9]
• 3rd century AD – Quintus of Smyrna uses it of a serpent's attack.^[1][3][9]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as ὁρμή, a rush.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rush, spring or swoop, of a lion or an eagle (also in the plural).^[1][2][6]
2. (later epic) The attack of a serpent.^[1][3]

Word family

• οἰμάω (oimáō)
• οἴμημα (oímēma)

Related words

• ὀϊστός (oïstós)
• οἶστρος (oîstros)
• Latin īra

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge