ἀκμή

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ak.mɛ̌ː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /akˈmi/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /akˈmi/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓κμή (akmḗ) f (genitive ᾰ̓κμῆς); first declension^[1] Doric ἀκμά.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *akmā́,^[1] a derivative in -μή of the root *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”), the element ἀκ- also found in ἀκή (akḗ, “point”), ἀκίς (akís, “point, barb”), ἄκρος (ákros, “topmost”) and ἄκων (ákōn, “javelin”).^[1][3][4][5]

Its accusative ἀκμήν was used as an adverb, “just, still”, the source of Modern Greek ακόμη (akómi, “still, yet”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it once, in the saying that a decision stands “on the razor's edge”.^[6][4][2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it is the edge or point of a weapon or of teeth, in Pindar and Euripides, and in Aeschylus and Sophocles the extremity of the hands or feet.^[7][2][4] The razor's edge remained proverbial in Theognis and Herodotus.^[4][2]

From the point came the highest point of anything, its prime: the prime of youth in Sophocles, the prime of body and mind in Plato, the ripeness of corn and the flower of a navy in Thucydides, the height of summer in Xenophon, and the crisis of a disease in the Hippocratic writers.^[7][2] It could also mean vigour and strength, in Pindar.^[7][2] Like καιρός (kairós) it was the right or critical moment, often in tragedy and in Demosthenes.^[7] Later rhetoricians used it for the climax of a speech, and a medical writer for an eruption on the face.^[7]

The Septuagint has it for the prime, the culminating point and the best time.^[8] In Modern Greek ακμή (akmí) is the peak of a development, an edge in geometry, after English edge, and the skin disease acne.^[9][5] English acme is recorded from the 1560s and was written in Greek letters until about 1620.^[10] Acne comes from a 6th-century misreading of its plural ἀκμάς.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad has “on the razor's edge”.^[6][4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the edge of a sword and for vigour.^[7][4]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for ripe corn.^[7][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of the prime of body and mind.^[7][4]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for a critical moment.^[7][4]
• 1560s – English acme is first recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A point or edge; ἐπὶ ξυροῦ ἀκμῆς, on the razor's edge.^[7][2]
2. The extremity of a hand or foot.^[2][4]
3. The highest point, prime, zenith, especially of life; ripeness.^[7][2]
4. The height of a season; the crisis of a disease.^[7][2]
5. Vigour, strength.^[7][2]
6. The right or critical moment.^[7]
7. (rhetoric) A climax.^[7]
8. (medicine) An eruption on the face.^[7]

Word family

• ἀκμάζω (akmázō)
• ἐπακμάζω (epakmázō)
• παρακμάζω (parakmázō)
• παρακμή (parakmḗ)
• συνακμάζω (sunakmázō)
• ἀπακμάζω (apakmázō)
• ἀπακμή (apakmḗ)
• ἐνακμάζω (enakmázō)
• ἐξακμάζω (exakmázō)
• προακμάζω (proakmázō)
• ὑπακμάζω (hupakmázō)
• ὑπερακμάζω (huperakmázō)
• ἀκμάζω (akmázō)
• ἀκμαῖος (akmaîos)

Related words

• ἄκρος (ákros)
• English acme

Usage notes

The DGE records a doubtful second ἀκμή, “fasting”, said to be Aeolic, which may have been invented to explain ἄκμηνος (ákmēnos).^[4] Ancient grammarians derived ἀκμή from the privative ἀ- and κάμνω “to grow weary”, as “what does not tire”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com