Etymologically
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σῶμα

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /sɔ̂ː.ma/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈso.ma/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈso.ma/[1]

Forms

σῶμᾰ (sôma) n (genitive σώμᾰτος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It has no convincing etymology.[2][3][4] Among the Indo-European words for “body”, only the family of Latin corpus is widespread.[2][3] It has been compared in form with σωρός (sōrós, “heap”), from *twoH-mn̥ (“compactness, swelling”), from *tewh₂- (“to swell”), though such an /o/-grade formation is strange.[2][1] Beekes thinks the most promising analysis is *(s)tyoH-mn̥ (“what has stiffened”), related to Sanskrit स्त्या (styā, “to get stiff”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer, as Aristarchus already noted, it always means a dead body, a corpse: a lion rejoices on finding a great carcass (Iliad 3.23).[5][2][6] The living body in Homer is δέμας (démas).[5][4]

Semantic evolution

From Hesiod on it is also the living body, and Pindar, Isocrates, Plato and Xenophon set it against the soul.[7] In Attic it meant a person, in Hellenistic Greek a slave, and Aeschylus, Plato and Aristotle use it for a whole or totality; the papyri use it for the text of a document.[2][3] Hyperides and Dinarchus speak of the “body” of the city.[7]

The Septuagint uses it for the body, a corpse, a person, and in the plural for slaves.[8] In the New Testament it is also the body of Christ.[7] Modern Greek σώμα is learned, with some senses taken from French corps.[9] English somatic (1753) and somato- come from it.[4]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for a corpse.[5][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the living body.[7][6][10]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato sets the body against the soul.[7][10]
  • Hellenistic – It is used for a slave.[2]
  • 1753 – English somatic is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Homer) A dead body, corpse; a carcass.[5][7]
  2. The living body, as opposed to the soul.[7]
  3. A person.[2][8]
  4. (Hellenistic) A slave.[2][8]
  5. A whole, totality; a body politic.[2][7]
  6. (papyri) The text of a document.[2]

Word family

  • σωματικός (sōmatikós)
  • σωμάτιον (sōmátion)
  • σωμάτινος (sōmátinos)
  • English somatic

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge