ἀνεμώνη

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.ne.mɔ̌ː.nɛː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /a.neˈmo.ni/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /a.neˈmo.ni/^[1]

Forms

ἀνεμώνη (anemṓnē) f (genitive ἀνεμώνης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][3] Prellwitz derived it from ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”), and Strömberg supported this, so that it would be a “wind flower”.^[4][3] Etymonline explains the ending as the feminine patronymic suffix -ώνη (-ṓnē), “daughter of the wind”.^[4][3][5] Beekes thinks a loanword more likely, perhaps from the substrate.^[3]

A Semitic origin, from Biblical Hebrew נַעֲמָן (Naʿămān), a name of Adonis meaning “pleasantness”, was proposed by Lewy, but Frisk, Beekes and Rosół reject it.^[6][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the comic poets Cratinus and Pherecrates, of the poppy anemone.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Theophrastus distinguishes a meadow anemone and a mountain anemone, and Dioscorides a cultivated and a wild kind; the Hippocratic writings use it as a medicine.^[2] In the bucolic poets Theocritus and Bion the Doric form ἀνεμώνα is a flower of the countryside.^[2][7] Hesychius adds that it was a kind of cake and a kiss, and calls anemone any plant that the winds quickly destroy.^[8][2] Lucian calls empty, showy words the “anemones” of speech.^[2]

Latin borrowed it as anemōnē.^[1] Modern Greek ανεμώνη (anemóni) is a learned form for the flower and the sea anemone, beside the popular ανεμώνα.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Cratinus and Pherecrates name the poppy anemone.^[2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes meadow and mountain anemones.^[2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses the Doric form ἀνεμώνα.^[2][7]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides distinguishes cultivated and wild anemones.^[2]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian calls showy words “the anemones of speech”.^[2]
• 1550s – English borrows anemone through French and Latin.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The anemone, especially the poppy anemone, Anemone coronaria.^[2][7]
2. Other species of anemone, such as the mountain anemone.^[2][1]
3. (figurative, in the plural) Showy but empty words.^[2]
4. A kind of cake; a kiss.^[8][2]

Related words

• ἄνεμος (ánemos)
• Latin anemone
• English anemone

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 l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
7. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki