ἁρμός

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /har.mós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /arˈmos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /arˈmos/^[1]

Forms

ἁρμός (harmós) m (genitive ἁρμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r-smo- (“joint”),^[2] from the root *h₂er- (“to fit together, join”), which is also the root of ἀραρίσκω (ararískō, “to join, fit together”).^[2][1][3] Wiktionary gives the noun as *h₂(e)rmós and compares Sanskrit ईर्म (īrmá, “arm, forequarter”), Latin armus (“shoulder, forequarter”), Old Prussian irmo (“arm”) and Proto-Germanic *armaz (“arm”), the source of English arm.^[1] Pokorny also puts ἅρμα (hárma, “chariot”) in this family.^[4]

The verb ἁρμόζω (harmózō, “to fit together”) is derived from it, through a noun ἁρμότᾱς (harmótās) according to Ruijgh, and ἁρμοῖ (harmoî, “just now”) is an old locative of the noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the 5th century BC: in Euripides the plural is the fastenings of a door, in Sophocles' Antigone a gap torn in the joints of a stone tomb, and an Attic inscription uses it for a joint in masonry.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In building accounts it is the joint between blocks and, in a 4th-century BC inscription and later at Lebadeia, the front and back faces of a block.^[5][3] It is also a joint in metalwork, a peg fixed in wood, and a chink in a door through which one can look.^[3][5] Xenophon uses it for the build of a hare's ligaments, and later writers for the joints of the body.^[6][5] In the Letter to the Hebrews the word of God reaches “to the joints and marrow”.^[5][7]

Modern Greek αρμός (armós) continues it, usually in the plural, for the joint between two pieces, the joints of the body and the gap at a seam.^[8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the fastenings of a door, and an Attic inscription for a joint in masonry.^[3][5]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles' Antigone uses it for a gap in the joints of a tomb.^[3][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for the structure of a hare's ligaments.^[6]
• 4th century BC – Inscriptions use it for the faces of a stone block.^[5]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – Philo the engineer uses it for a joint in metalwork.^[3][5]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it for a chink in a door.^[3][5]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek αρμός (armós) means a joint or seam.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A joint in masonry or metalwork; the face of a stone block.^[3][5][6]
2. (in the plural) The fastenings of a door.^[3][6][5]
3. A bolt, a peg.^[3][6]
4. A chink, fissure.^[3][5]
5. A joint of the body, an articulation; the shoulder-joint of a horse.^[5][3][7]

Word family

• ἁρμονία (harmoníā)
• ἁρμόζω (harmózō)
• ἁρμοῖ (harmoî)

Related words

• ἄρθρον (árthron)
• ἅρμα (hárma)
• ἀραρίσκω (ararískō)
• Latin armus
• English arm

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki