στόμαχος

Forms

στόμᾰχος (stómakhos) m (genitive στομᾰ́χου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma, “mouth”), with the suffix seen in οὐραχός (ourakhós) and κύμβαχος (kúmbakhos).^[2][1][3] Wiktionary considers this suffix of unclear and probably Pre-Greek origin.^[1]

It was borrowed as Latin stomachus (“gullet, stomach”), with the verb stomachor (“to be indignant”), from which the Latin noun also took the sense “annoyance”.^[2][4] Beekes thinks that the late Greek sense “anger” is itself a loan from Latin.^[2]

The Etymologicum Magnum derived it from στόμα (stóma) and χέω (khéō, “to pour”), since food is poured through it into the belly.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it means the throat, of animals and of men: the throats of lambs cut with the bronze, and the base of the throat where a spear strikes.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Its first meaning is “opening, orifice”.^[9] After Homer it named the gullet: Aristotle uses it as the same as οἰσοφάγος (oisophágos).^[7][9] The Hippocratic writers apply it to the neck of the bladder and of the womb.^[7][9] Later it came to mean the orifice of the stomach, and then the stomach itself, in Plutarch, Galen and the medical writers.^[7][8][9] In the New Testament, Timothy is told to take a little wine for his stomach's sake.^[10][9] In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD it could mean “anger”.^[7][2]

Modern Greek στόμαχος (stómachos) is a learned word, taken from the Hellenistic sense; the ancient sense was “throat”.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the throat of lambs and of warriors.^[6][7]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for the neck of the bladder and of the womb.^[7][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the gullet.^[7][12]
• New Testament – The First Epistle to Timothy uses it for the stomach.^[10][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the orifice of the stomach and for the stomach.^[7][12]
• 2nd century AD – Vettius Valens uses it for “anger”.^[7][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The throat, gullet.^[7][8]
2. The neck of the bladder or of the uterus.^[7]
3. The orifice of the stomach; the stomach itself.^[7][8][10]
4. (late) Anger, resentment.^[7][2]

Word family

• εὐστόμαχος (eustómakhos)
• κακοστόμαχος (kakostómakhos)

Related words

• στόμα (stóma)
• Latin stomachus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge