τύμβος

Forms

τῠ́μβος (túmbos) m (genitive τῠ́μβου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, because beside τύμβος an inscription of Corcyra has τῦμος (tûmos) with the same meaning and a long vowel guaranteed by the metre, a variation typical of Pre-Greek words.^[2][3] He suggests that Latin tumulus (“mound”) and an Armenian word for an earthen wall, and perhaps Middle Irish tomm (“small hill”), may continue the same Mediterranean word.^[2]

Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *tum- (“to swell”).^[1] Chantraine compares the same Latin word and tumeō (“to swell”), but notes that a suffix with β has no Indo-European model; he thinks it may come from the stem of τύφη (túphē), with the aspirate lost after the nasal.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is the mound of earth or stones heaped over a grave, the barrow; the Odyssey speaks of heaping up a τύμβος.^[5][6][4]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine contrasts it with τάφος (táphos), which names what is dug: τύμβος was the mound placed over the grave before it came to mean a grave in general.^[4] From the 6th century BC it meant any tomb, and in Euripides a carved tombstone with the figure of the dead.^[6][5] Comedy and tragedy used it of a very old man, “an old tomb”, one with a foot in the grave.^[5][6]

Latin tumba, from which French tombe comes, was borrowed from it.^[7] Today Modern Greek τύμβος (tývos), a learned borrowing of the ancient word, for a grand burial monument.^[8][7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the burial mound.^[5][6]
• 6th century BC – An inscription from Corcyra has the variant τῦμος.^[2][5]
• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it for a grave.^[6][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it for a tomb.^[5][9]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for a tombstone and calls an old man an “old tomb”.^[5][6][9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek τύμβος (tývos) is a learned borrowing of the ancient word.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A burial mound, barrow, cairn over a grave.^[5][6]
2. A tomb, grave.^[5][6]
3. A tombstone with the figure of the dead.^[5][6]
4. (figurative) Of a very old man, a walking tomb.^[5][6]

Word family

• τυμβοχόος (tumbokhóos)
• ἐπιτύμβιος (epitúmbios)

Related words

• Latin tumulus
• Latin tumba

Usage notes

Mourning before a tomb, θρηνεῖν πρὸς τύμβον, was said of speaking to someone who will not listen.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge