τραῦμα

Forms

τραῦμᾰ (traûma) n (genitive τραύμᾰτος); third declension^[1] Ionic and Doric τρῶμα (trôma) (Herodotus, the Hippocratic corpus, Theocritus); Pindar has a feminine τρώμα (trṓma).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a noun in -μα (-ma) from Ancient Greek τιτρώσκω (titrṓskō, “to wound”), beside Ionic and Doric τρῶμα (trôma).^[1][4][3] The Attic ⟨αυ⟩ has been explained from a long diphthong, connecting the verb with τέρυς (térus, “worn out”), or as an innovation after θραῦμα (thraûma, “fragment”) and θραύω (thraúō, “to break”); on the second view the verb comes from a root Proto-Indo-European *terh₃-.^[4][5] Beekes rejects both: such an influence is improbable, and an ⟨αυ⟩ could not have been introduced into a root ⟨τρω-⟩, so he starts from a root ⟨τρω-⟩/⟨τραυ-⟩ that has no Indo-European explanation and shows the variation /au/ ~ /ō/ found in Pre-Greek words.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus' Agamemnon (6th–5th century BC) has it for wounds;^[2][6] Herodotus uses it of men dying from their wounds.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 5th century it is a wound, usually one received in battle.^[3] In Attic law it is bodily harm, the offence of wounding;^[3] Herodotus and Polybius use it of damage to ships, and Herodotus figuratively of a disaster suffered by an army.^[3] Hellenistic poets use it of the wound of a lightning bolt or of the sting of a bee or of Eros.^[3] In the New Testament Luke uses it for wounds.^[8]

English took it as a medical term in the 1690s through medical Latin, first for a physical wound, and by 1894 for a psychic wound.^[9] The Modern Greek word, τραύμα (trávma), is a learned continuation of the ancient word; its sense of a psychological trauma is a semantic loan from English.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for wounds.^[2][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the Ionic form for wounds and for damage to ships.^[2][3]
• 4th century BC – The Attic orators use it for the offence of wounding.^[3]
• 1st century AD – Luke uses it for wounds.^[8]
• 1690s – English borrows trauma as a medical term.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wound, usually one received in battle.^[2][3]
2. (law) Wounding, bodily harm.^[3]
3. Damage to a ship.^[3]
4. (figurative) A disaster or defeat suffered by an army.^[3]

Word family

• τραυματίζω (traumatízō)
• τραυματικός (traumatikós)

Related words

• τιτρώσκω (titrṓskō)
• English trauma

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki