ἀνάθεμα

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.ná.tʰe.ma/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /aˈna.θe.ma/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /aˈna.θe.ma/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓νᾰ́θεμᾰ (anáthema) n (genitive ᾰ̓νᾰθέμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ἀνατίθημι (anatíthēmi, “to set up, dedicate”), with the suffix -μα (-ma): “something set up”.^[1][2][3] It is the Hellenistic form of the older ἀνάθημα (anáthēma), which has the same meaning; poets also have the short form ἄνθεμα (ánthema).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest examples, an inscription from Epidaurus of the 4th century BC and epigrams of Callimachus and Theocritus, use it for a votive offering set up for a god.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In the Septuagint it renders Hebrew ḥerem, what is devoted to God and so withdrawn from human use, especially the spoil and the people of a city given over to destruction; from this it came to mean an accursed thing.^[6][5][3] Paul uses it of persons: anathema estō, “let him be accursed”, and he could wish himself accursed and cut off from Christ.^[3][5] A curse tablet from Megara of the 1st or 2nd century AD uses it for a curse.^[2][5]

In Christian Greek it became the formal excommunication of heretics, and in medieval vernacular Greek a common curse.^[7][8] Latin borrowed it as anathema.^[1] Modern Greek ανάθεμα (anáthema) is both the church's ban and an everyday oath, as in “damn the hour”.^[8]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – An inscription from Epidaurus uses it for a votive offering.^[5]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus and Theocritus use the form ἄνθεμα in dedicatory epigrams.^[5][4]
• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for what is devoted to destruction.^[6][5]
• 1st century AD – Paul uses anathema estō, “let him be accursed”.^[3]
• 1st–2nd century AD – A curse tablet from Megara uses it for a curse.^[2][5]
• 12th–17th century – Vernacular Greek uses it for excommunication and as a curse.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A votive offering, anything dedicated to a god.^[2][4]
2. (Septuagint) Something devoted to God for destruction; an accursed thing.^[6][2]
3. (New Testament) An accursed person.^[3][2]
4. A curse; a vow under a curse.^[5][4]
5. (Christian) excommunication.^[8][7]
6. A kind of cake.^[5]

Word family

• ἀναθεματίζω (anathematízō)

Related words

• ἀνάθημα (anáthēma)
• ἀνατίθημι (anatíthēmi)
• τίθημι (títhēmi)
• Latin anathema
• English anathema

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki