χίμαιρα

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kʰí.mai̯.ra/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈçi.mɛ.ra/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈçi.me.ra/^[1]

Forms

χῐ́μαιρᾰ (khímaira) f (genitive χῐμαίρᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed with the feminine suffix ⟨-ια⟩ (as in πρῷρα (prṓira)) from an r-stem of the word for winter, ⟨*ǵʰim-er-⟩, which also appears with full grade in χειμέριος (kheimérios, “wintry”); it alternates with the n-stem of χειμών (kheimṓn, “winter”) and χεῖμα (kheîma).^[2][3] The root is Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeym- (“winter, snow”).^[2][4][5] The first meaning was “an animal one winter old”: Hesychius glosses the plural of χίμαρος as “goats of winter”, and a Byzantine etymological dictionary explains χίμαιρα as a goat born in winter, “having one winter”.^[2][3]

Almost the same word is found in North Germanic, as Old Norse gymbr (“ewe that has not yet lambed”), from Proto-Germanic *gimbrī; if they are cognate, Beekes thinks the two are probably independent formations.^[2][3] The masculine χίμαρος (khímaros, “he-goat”), attested much later, is probably a new formation from χίμαιρα.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is both the young she-goat and the monster Chimaera, slain by Bellerophon, which was a lion in front, a serpent behind and a she-goat in the middle.^[6][7][5]

Semantic evolution

As an animal it was the young she-goat, often sacrificed to Artemis, in Hesiod, tragedy and Xenophon; the Septuagint uses it for the young she-goat of the sin offering in Leviticus.^[6][8] As a monster Chimaera, which breathed fire, appears in Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, Pindar and Plato.^[6] English chimera comes from it through Latin Chimaera and French, in the late 14th century.^[5]

Modern Greek χίμαιρα (chímaira) is a learned word for an unrealisable aim, an illusion, a sense taken from French chimère; with a capital it is the mythical monster.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a young she-goat and for the monster Chimaera.^[6][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod gives the Chimaera's genealogy.^[6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon mentions she-goats sacrificed to Artemis.^[6]
• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for a sacrificial she-goat.^[8]
• Late 14th century – English borrows chimera.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young she-goat, especially as a sacrifice.^[6][8]
2. (mythology) The Chimera, a fire-breathing monster part lion, part goat and part serpent.^[6][5]

Related words

• χίμαρος (khímaros)
• χειμών (kheimṓn)
• χεῖμα (kheîma)
• Latin Chimaera
• English chimera

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
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