ἁμαρτία

Forms

ᾰ̔μᾰρτίᾱ (hamartíā) f (genitive ᾰ̔μᾰρτίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartánō, “to miss the mark, fail”) + -ία (-íā), an abstract noun built on the stem of the verb.^[1][2][3] Beekes lists it among the verb's Attic derivatives, beside ἁμάρτημα (hamártēma) and the later ἁμαρτωλός (hamartōlós, “sinner”).^[2]

The verb itself has no known cognates.^[2] Beekes reconstructs a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂mert- (“to miss, fail”), which he finds perfectly Indo-European in shape, because the negative adjective νημερτής (nēmertḗs, “unerring”) seems to preserve an old full grade; the ⟨-αρ-⟩ of the verb would have replaced ⟨-ρα-⟩, and its rough breathing is analogical.^[2] Frisk calls the formation and origin of the verb unclear.^[3]

The Etymologicum Magnum and Zonaras derive the word from μάρπτω (márptō, “to seize”), as a failure to grasp what one wants, or from a verb meaning “to fit together”.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Aeschylus, meaning a failure or fault: in the Agamemnon it is used of the faults of a royal house.^[6][7][8] The tragedians already use it both of a mistake and of a wrong deliberately done, such as Prometheus' theft of fire or Clytemnestra's crime.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Attic the word covered the whole range from an honest mistake to a culpable offence: Thucydides speaks of an error of judgement, Antiphon of a man's own fault, Aristophanes of past offences.^[6][9][7] Isocrates used it more mildly of a shortcoming in someone's character.^[7] In Aristotle's Poetics the tragic hero falls into misfortune not through vice or wickedness but through some ἁμαρτία, an error;^[9] English took the word from this passage as hamartia, the “tragic flaw”.^[9][10]

Plato and Aristotle also used it in moral and religious contexts, of guilt.^[6] In the Septuagint, where it is very frequent, it renders guilt and sin, and also the sin offering of Leviticus;^[11] in the New Testament it is the standard word for sin, an act against the will and law of God, and also the state of sinfulness.^[12][13][7] This Christian sense is Hellenistic, according to Triantafyllidis.^[14] Zonaras defines it in philosophical terms as a turning away from what is good by nature or by law.^[5]

It was borrowed into Coptic as ϩⲁⲙⲁⲣⲧⲓⲁ (hamartia).^[15] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word,^[16] and it survives as αμαρτία (amartía), “sin”.^[14]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of a fault and of a crime.^[6][9][7]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of an error of judgement.^[6][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it in moral and religious contexts, of guilt.^[6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle's Poetics makes an ἁμαρτία, an error, the cause of the tragic hero's fall.^[9]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for sin against God.^[12][7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as αμαρτία (amartía), “sin”.^[14][16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mistake or error, in conduct or judgement.^[7][6][9]
2. A fault, wrongdoing or offence, a wrong knowingly done.^[7][9]
3. A shortcoming in a person's nature.^[7]
4. (philosophy, religion) Guilt.^[6]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) Sin, an offence against God; also the state of sinfulness.^[12][7][13]
6. (Septuagint) A sin offering.^[11]

Related words

• ἁμαρτάνω (hamartánō)
• ἁμάρτημα (hamártēma)
• ἁμαρτωλός (hamartōlós)
• νημερτής (nēmertḗs)
• English hamartia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ a b c 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
13. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
14. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
16. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr