σήσαμον

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /sɛ̌ː.sa.mon/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈsi.sa.mon/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈsi.sa.mon/^[1]

Forms

σήσᾰμον (sḗsamon) n (genitive σησᾰ́μου); second declension^[1] Doric σάσαμον (sásamon), Laconian σάαμον (sáamon); later also σήσαμος (masculine) and σησάμη (feminine).^[2][3][4] Mycenaean Greek sa-sa-ma (plural).^[2][5][3]

Etymology

It is a Semitic loanword.^[2][3][5] Wiktionary takes it as borrowed from Aramaic שושמא (šūššmā), a shortening of šumššemā, from Akkadian šamaššammū (“oil plant”), a compound of šaman “oil” and šammum “plant”, and Etymonline traces it through Phoenician to Late Babylonian.^[1][6] Rosół lists related forms across Semitic, such as Phoenician ššmn and Arabic simsim, and the word also reached Hittite šammama-.^[3][5]

The Greek formation is like that of κάρδαμον (kárdamon) and βάλσαμον (bálsamon).^[2][5] Mycenaean sa-sa-ma shows that the borrowing is very old, perhaps of Proto-Hellenic date, and the Greek neuter may have been formed from the collective plural.^[1] It was borrowed as Latin sēsamum and sēsama.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets record sa-sa-ma.^[2][3] In literature it first appears in Alcman (in the Doric form σάσαμον), Solon and Hipponax, for the seeds.^[7][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus describes it as a crop of Mesopotamia, and Xenophon mentions it in Cilicia.^[3] Aristophanes and Xenophon use the word for the plant itself.^[3][7][4] Sesame cakes and σησαμίς (sēsamís), a dish of roasted seeds and honey, appear in Stesichorus and comedy.^[2] Papyri of the 3rd century BC mention it, Hellenistic papyri speak of land planted with it, and τὰ σήσαμα named the sesame market.^[4][2] Strabo writes of anointing oneself with sesame oil.^[4]

Medieval Greek used σήσαμον and the masculine σήσαμος, attested from the 4th century, for the seeds, and the word survives as a learned Modern Greek σήσαμο (sísamo).^[8] English sesame came through Latin in the early 15th century, and first appeared as a magic word in a 1722 English translation of the Arabian Nights.^[6]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – sa-sa-ma on the Linear B tablets.^[2][3]
• 7th century BC – Alcman uses the Doric σάσαμον.^[7][9]
• 7th–6th century BC – Solon mentions sesame seeds.^[4][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus describes sesame growing in Mesopotamia.^[3][4][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon mentions it in Cilicia.^[3][9]
• 3rd century BC – papyri mention sesame.^[4]
• Early 15th century – English sisamie.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sesame plant.^[7][4]
2. (plural or collective) Sesame seeds.^[7][4]
3. (plural, τὰ σήσαμα) The sesame market.^[4]

Word family

• σησαμίς (sēsamís)
• σησαμοῦς (sēsamoûs)
• σησάμινος (sēsáminos)

Related words

• Latin sēsamum
• English sesame

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge