σκότος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /skó.tos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈsko.tos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈsko.tos/^[1]

Forms

σκότος (skótos) m (genitive σκότου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It has no direct match outside Greek but a close relative in the Germanic word for “shadow”: Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skadus, “shadow”), Old English sceadu (“shadow, darkness”) and Old High German scato (“shadow”).^[2][3] Celtic has a form with a long vowel, Old Irish scáth (“shadow”).^[2][3][1] Beekes reconstructs either *skoto- for Greek and Germanic beside *skōto- for Celtic, or an ablauting root noun *sk(e)h₃t-.^[2][1]

It was masculine, and since the 5th century BC also neuter, after φῶς (phôs, “light”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is always the darkness of death, in the formula “darkness covered his eyes” (4.461).^[4][5] The Odyssey uses it for darkness in general (19.389).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Lyric, tragedy and prose used it for darkness as opposed to light or day, and Euripides keeps the darkness of death.^[4][6] Pindar and the tragedians use it for the darkness of the underworld, Aeschylus for the darkness of the womb, and Sophocles and Euripides for blindness.^[6] Figuratively it was concealment and secrecy (Pindar, Bacchylides, tragedy, Plato) and, of the mind, ignorance and obscurity.^[6][1] It also named the dizzy darkness before the eyes, and the shadow in a picture.^[2][1]

In the New Testament it is the domain of evil spirits.^[6] Medieval and Modern Greek keep σκότος as a learned word.^[7][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the darkness of death.^[4][5]
• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for darkness in general.^[4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the darkness of the womb.^[6][9]
• 5th century BC – It is also used as a neuter noun.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the domain of evil.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Darkness, dark, gloom.^[4][6]
2. The darkness of death; of the underworld.^[4][6]
3. Blindness; dizziness.^[6][2]
4. (figurative) Concealment, secrecy; obscurity, ignorance.^[6][1]
5. The shadow in a picture.^[1]

Word family

• ἀποσκοτόομαι (aposkotóomai)
• ἐπισκοτέω (episkotéō)
• ἐπισκότησις (episkótēsis)
• ἐπίσκοτος (epískotos)
• σκοταῖος (skotaîos)
• σκοτεινόν (skoteinón)
• σκοτεινός (skoteinós)
• σκοτεινότης (skoteinótēs)
• σκοτεινῶς (skoteinôs)
• σκοτία (skotíā)
• σκοτίζομαι (skotízomai)
• σκότιος (skótios)
• σκοτοδασυπυκνόθριξ (skotodasupuknóthrix)
• σκοτόεις (skotóeis)

Related words

• σκιά (skiā́)
• English shadow

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge