Etymologically
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ἀτμός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /aːt.mós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /atˈmos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /atˈmos/[1]

Forms

ἀτμός (atmós) m (genitive ἀτμοῦ); second declension[1] Hesiod has the feminine ἀτμή (atmḗ) in the same sense.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][1] It is perhaps contracted from *ἀετμός (*aetmós), compare Hesychius's glosses ἀετμόν (aetmón) “wind” and ἄετμα (áetma) “flame”.[2][1] It has been compared with ἄημι (áēmi, “to blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), and with ἀϋτμή (aütmḗ), but the vowels are not explained.[2][1] Chantraine points to the difference in meaning from that verb.[2] The DGE derives it instead from a laryngeal root of ἀήρ (āḗr), whose full grade it sees in Old High German ātum and Sanskrit आत्मन् (ātmán).[4] Beekes and Wiktionary reject the link with these words, which go back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁eh₁t- (“to breathe”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus uses it for vapour and smells: the hot breath of the Furies and an odour like that of a tomb.[5][6][4]

Semantic evolution

In Euripides it is the smoke of a smouldering corpse.[6] Aristotle uses it for the vapour that rises from the earth and for odours, and Hippocratic writers for the vapour of medical fumigations.[5][4] Late writers use it for the smoke of incense and aromatic spices.[4] The derivatives ἀτμίς (atmís) “steam” and ἀτμίζω (atmízō) “to steam” are Classical.[2]

The English combining form atmo- comes from it, as in atmosphere, first atmosphaera in the 1630s, from Modern Latin.[7] Modern Greek ατμός (atmós) is a learned word for steam, and Babiniotis explains the phrase “under steam”, ready to leave, from the whistle of steamships and trains before departure.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for vapour, breath and smell.[5][4]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the smoke of a corpse, and Hippocratic writers for medical fumigations.[6][4]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for vapour rising from the earth and for odours.[5][4]
  • 1630s – English atmosphaera, later atmosphere, is formed from it in Modern Latin.[7]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek ατμός (atmós) means steam.[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Vapour, steam.[5][6]
  2. Hot breath.[6][4]
  3. A smell, odour.[5][4]
  4. Smoke, as of incense or a burning corpse.[4][6]

Word family

  • ἀτμίς (atmís)
  • ἀτμίζω (atmízō)
  • ἀτμώδης (atmṓdēs)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας