σεισμός

Forms

σεισμός (seismós) m (genitive σεισμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from Ancient Greek σείω (seíō, “to shake”) + -μός (-mós), an action noun of the type of λυγμός (lugmós) and δεσμός (desmós).^[1][2][3] The meaning “earthquake” comes from an ellipsis of the phrase “shaking of the earth”.^[1][4] Beekes traces σείω (seíō) to Proto-Indo-European *tueis- (“to excite, sparkle”), because epic forms with ⟨σσ⟩ point to an original consonant group, and compares Sanskrit and Avestan words for excitement and fear.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 5th century BC.^[5] Herodotus and Sophocles use it on its own for an earthquake, and Euripides with a genitive “of the earth”.^[4][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Besides the earthquake, Plato used it of any shock or agitation, of the body or of the passions.^[4][6] In the papyri of the 2nd century BC it also meant blackmail or extortion, a “shaking down”.^[4][3] The Septuagint and the New Testament use it for earthquakes, among the signs of the end, and once of a storm on the sea.^[7][6][4]

The word lived on in medieval Greek and remains the ordinary σεισμός (seismós) “earthquake” of Modern Greek.^[8][9] Modern Greek derivatives such as σεισμικός are modelled on French learned words made from the Greek.^[2] In English it is the source of the combining form seismo-.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus, Sophocles and Thucydides use it for an earthquake.^[4][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of a shock or agitation of the body.^[4]
• 2nd century BC – Papyri use it for extortion.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Matthew uses it of a storm on the sea, and of earthquakes.^[4][7]
• Modern Greek – σεισμός (seismós) is still the word for an earthquake.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Shaking, a tremor; with “of the earth” or on its own, an earthquake.^[4][6]
2. A shock, commotion, agitation.^[4][6]
3. (New Testament) A violent disturbance in the sea, a storm.^[6][7]
4. (papyri) Extortion, blackmail.^[4]

Related words

• σείω (seíō)
• English seismic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com