τρέμω

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /tré.mɔː/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈtre.mo/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈtre.mo/^[1]

Forms

τρέμω (trémō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *trémō,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *trem- (“to tremble”), a primary thematic present.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes this root as an extension of *ter-; another extension, *tres-, gave τρέω (tréō, “to flee in fear”).^[1] Beekes also compares ταρμύσσω (tarmússō).^[2]

The Greek verb is identical with Latin tremō (“to tremble”);^[2] other cognates are Albanian trem (“to frighten”), Tocharian A tärm- (“to be angry, be excited, tremble”), Tocharian B tremi (“trembling”), which matches Greek τρόμος (trómos), and Lithuanian trem̃ti (“to smite down”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to tremble, shake or quiver: in the Iliad the limbs of a frightened man tremble beneath him (10.390), and the mountains and the forest tremble under the feet of a god (13.18).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used only in the present and the imperfect; a perfect is recorded only by the Etymologicum Magnum.^[5][6] Beside the physical sense (quivering limbs in Euripides, a trembling voice in Aristotle, the shivering of the cold stage of a fever in the Hippocratic writings),^[5] it means to tremble with fear, and then simply to be afraid; with an object it means to fear or dread someone or something, as Callimachus' mice fear a cat.^[5][6]

In the New Testament it is used of physical trembling (Mark 5:33, Luke 8:47) and, in other passages, mainly of awe or fear.^[7] The verb continues as Modern Greek τρέμω (trémo).^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of trembling limbs and of mountains that shake.^[4][5]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of quivering limbs.^[5][6][10]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it of shivering in a fever.^[5][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of a trembling voice.^[5][10]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus has mice that dread a cat.^[6][10]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for fearing a person.^[6][10]
• New Testament – It is used of trembling and of awe.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as τρέμω, “to tremble”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tremble, quake, quiver, of the earth, mountains, the body and its limbs, or the voice.^[6][5]
2. To shiver, from cold or in a fever.^[6][5]
3. To tremble with fear; to be afraid.^[6][5][7]
4. (with an object) To fear, dread someone or something; to tremble in anticipation of an event.^[6]

Word family

• τρόμος (trómos)
• τρομερός (tromerós)

Related words

• τρέω (tréō)
• Latin tremō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge