χειμών

Forms

χειμών (kheimṓn) m (genitive χειμῶνος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰei̯-m-ón- (“winter”),^[2] an n-stem of the Indo-European root *ǵʰey- (“winter, snow”), like χεῖμα (kheîma, “winter, storm”) beside it.^[3][4][5] Beekes and Frisk call it an inherited word for “winter”, and Chantraine notes that the group is well attested in Indo-European for winter, bad weather and snow.^[3][5][4]

Cognate with Hittite gimmant- (“winter”), Albanian dimër (“winter”), and with words built on other stems of the same root: Sanskrit हिम (himá, “snow, cold”), Latin hiems (“winter, storm”), hībernus (“wintry”) and Greek χιών (khiṓn, “snow”).^[3][5][1] The adjective χειμερινός (kheimerinós), which has an /r/ like hībernus, points to an old alternation between /r/ and /n/ stems, though Szemerényi took the /r/ as an independent innovation in each language.^[4][5]

Ancient grammarians derived it from χέω (khéō, “to pour”), because winter is the rainy season.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is both the season of winter and a winter storm: cranes flee the winter and its endless rain, and the poet speaks of “bitter winter” that stops men from working in the fields.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer the word meant both the season and the stormy weather it brings, and then any storm.^[7][3] Pindar and Thucydides use it for the cold of winter, and Herodotus for the bitter cold of a mountain region.^[7] In tragedy and in Pindar the storm becomes an image of adversity, disaster or madness, often sent by the gods, and Sophocles speaks of a “storm” of battle.^[7]

In the New Testament it means bad weather: Jesus says that the red sky in the morning means a stormy day, and in Acts a heavy storm presses on Paul's ship.^[10] In medieval Greek the accusative χειμῶνα gave a new nominative χειμώνας (cheimónas), which is the Modern Greek word for winter, Modern Greek χειμώνας (cheimónas).^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for winter and for a winter storm.^[8][7][9]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of the winter season in the Works and Days.^[9][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for winter cold and, figuratively, for adversity.^[7][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it in dating events by winters and summers, “in the course of the winter”.^[8][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for stormy weather.^[10]
• 2nd century AD – Herodian derives it from χέω (khéō), “to pour”.^[6]
• Medieval Greek – A new nominative χειμώνας (cheimónas) is formed from the accusative.^[11]
• Modern Greek – χειμώνας (cheimónas) is the word for winter.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Winter, the season.^[8][7]
2. Winter cold, wintry weather.^[7]
3. A winter storm; any storm, stormy weather.^[7][10]
4. (figurative) A storm of troubles: adversity, disaster or madness.^[7]

Word family

• χειμωνοτύπος (kheimōnotúpos)

Related words

• χειμάζω (kheimázō)
• χειμασία (kheimasía)
• χεῖμα (kheîma)
• χιών (khiṓn)
• χειμερινός (kheimerinós)
• Latin hiems

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
3. ^ 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
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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge