χεῖμα

Forms

χεῖμᾰ (kheîma) n (genitive χείμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʰéimə, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéymn̥ (“winter”).^[1][2] It is one of a large Indo-European family of words for winter and snow, around a root *ǵʰey-.^[2][3][4] Like χειμών (kheimṓn), it has a suffix with n, which is also found in Sanskrit and in Hittite gimmant- (“winter”).^[2][3] Other members of the family are Latin hiems (“winter”), Sanskrit हिम (himá-, “cold, frost, snow”), Lithuanian žiemà and Russian зима́ (zimá) “winter”, and within Greek χιών (khiṓn, “snow”).^[2] Beekes thinks the -m- was most probably a suffix originally.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Odyssey, in two senses: bitter cold weather, in the phrase “the cold overpowers me”, and winter as a season, of fruit that never fails in winter or summer.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a poetic word, the poetic form of χειμών.^[6][2] Hesiod and Alcman use it for the season, and in Aeschylus the stars bring winter and summer to mortals.^[6][7] From cold weather it came to mean a storm, especially at sea, in lyric poetry, in Aeschylus and Euripides, and in Apollonius of Rhodes, and Aeschylus speaks of the fairest day to see after a storm.^[6][7] Prose has it rarely, as in a dialogue ascribed to Plato.^[6]

The adjectives in χειμερ- (“wintry”) belong to the same family.^[2] Modern Greek has the season as Modern Greek χειμώνας (cheimónas), which continues χειμών.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for winter cold and for the season of winter.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the winter season.^[6][9]
• 7th century BC – Alcman uses it both for winter and for a storm.^[6][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for winter and for storms.^[6][7][9]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for a storm.^[6][9]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it for stormy weather.^[7][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Winter, the season of the year; in the accusative, during the winter.^[6][7]
2. Wintry weather, cold, frost.^[6][7]
3. A storm, stormy weather, especially at sea.^[6][7]

Word family

• ἀχείμαντος (akheímantos)
• ἀχείματος (akheímatos)
• ἐπιχειμάζω (epikheimázō)
• χειμάζω (kheimázō)
• χειμάρροος (kheimárroos)
• χειμασία (kheimasía)
• χείμαστρον (kheímastron)

Related words

• χειμών (kheimṓn)
• χιών (khiṓn)
• Latin hiems

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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
4. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge