ἄσβεστος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /áz.bes.tos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈaz.βes.tos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈaz.ves.tos/^[1]

Forms

ἄσβεστος (ásbestos) m (feminine ἀσβέστη, neuter ἄσβεστον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the privative prefix with σβεστός (sbestós), the verbal adjective of σβέννυμι (sbénnumi, “to quench”): “unquenchable”.^[2][3][1] The noun “quicklime” is short for “unslaked τίτανος (títanos, “lime”)”.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it of fire and, figuratively, of things that cannot be stopped: the “unquenchable laughter” in the first book of the Iliad, an endless battle cry, and undying fame in the Odyssey.^[5][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense stayed in poetry: Pindar has the undying light of noble deeds, Aeschylus the ceaseless flow of Ocean.^[6][3] The New Testament speaks of the unquenchable fire of judgement, and Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus of a sacred fire never allowed to go out.^[4][6]

As a noun it meant unslaked lime in Dioscorides and Plutarch.^[6][4] Beekes and Frisk, following Diels, stress that the Greek word never meant “asbestos”, for which Greek used ἀμίαντος (amíantos); the mineral sense is found only in Pliny's Latin, and English asbestos comes from it through Latin and French.^[2][7][3][8] Medieval Greek kept the noun for lime, and Modern Greek has the learned noun Modern Greek άσβεστος (ásvestos) “lime” and the adjective “undying”.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad speaks of unquenchable flame and unquenchable laughter.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it of undying glory and Ocean's ceaseless flow.^[6]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses the feminine for unslaked lime.^[6][3]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels speak of unquenchable fire.^[4]
• 1st century AD – Pliny uses asbestos for a mineral.^[6][3]
• 1650s – English uses asbestos for the mineral.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. unquenchable, inextinguishable, of fire.^[6][5]
2. (figurative) Ceaseless, undying, of laughter, fame or a battle cry.^[6][3]

Noun

1. Unslaked lime, quicklime.^[6][4]
2. (Latin writers) A mineral; asbestos.^[3][6]

Related words

• σβέννυμι (sbénnumi)
• σβεστός (sbestós)
• τίτανος (títanos)
• Latin asbestos
• English asbestos

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki