ἀνωμαλία

Forms

ᾰ̓νωμᾰλῐ́ᾱ (anōmalíā) f (genitive ᾰ̓νωμᾰλῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “uneven, irregular”) with the suffix -ία (-ía).^[1][2] The adjective is ὁμαλός (homalós, “even, level”) with the privative prefix ἀν- (an-) and the lengthening of the vowel usual in compounds.^[3][4]

It was borrowed into Latin as anomalia.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first texts are Isocrates (To Nicocles), Plato's Republic and the Hippocratic Regimen in Acute Diseases, in the 5th–4th century BC.^[6][7] Plato uses it of inequality among the members of a community.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word named unevenness of every kind: of ground and clouds, of a mirror's surface, of the lungs, and in medicine the irregular course of a disease.^[7][2] It was used of inequality of property in Aristotle and of inconsistency in character or in evidence in Aeschines.^[2] The grammarians used it for irregularity in language: Chrysippus wrote on anomaly in words, and the term stood for the view, opposed to analogy, that language is irregular.^[7][2] In astronomy it named the irregularity of the motions of the planets, in Geminus and Ptolemy.^[7] Hesychius glosses it as weakness or illness.^[8][7]

Latin took the grammatical term as anomalia, and Modern Greek ανωμαλία (anomalía) is the learned continuation, in its modern sense of a deviation from the norm shaped by French anomalie.^[5][9]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato, Isocrates and the Hippocratic writers use it of inequality and irregularity.^[6][2][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of inequality of property, of clouds, and of an uneven reflecting surface.^[2][7]
• 4th century BC – Aeschines uses it of inconsistency in character and in a prosecution case.^[2]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus writes a work on anomaly in words.^[7]
• 1st century BC – Geminus uses it of the irregular motion of the heavenly bodies.^[7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of unevenness of ground and of the calendar.^[2]
• Modern Greek – ανωμαλία (anomalía) is a learned word, partly shaped by French anomalie.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Unevenness, irregularity of surface; in the plural, depressions in the ground.^[2][7]
2. Inequality, as among citizens or of property.^[2][7]
3. Inconsistency of character or conduct; discrepancy, as between opinions or dates.^[2]
4. (medicine) Irregularity in the course of an illness; indisposition.^[7][8]
5. (grammar) Irregularity in language, anomaly.^[7]
6. (astronomy) The irregular motion of a heavenly body.^[7]
7. Instability, as of a democracy or of the fortunes of a battle.^[2]

Related words

• ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos)
• ὁμαλός (homalós)
• Latin anomalia
• English anomaly

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ 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. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki