ἄτομος

Forms

ἄτομος (átomos) m or f (neuter ἄτομον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τομή (tomḗ, “a cut”), with the o-grade stem τομ- (tom-) of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”): literally “uncut”.^[1][2][3] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Sophocles' Trachiniae, of an uncut, unmown meadow.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

From “uncut” the adjective came to mean “that cannot be cut”, indivisible.^[5][2] Democritus called the indivisible particles of matter ἄτομα, saying that in reality there are only atoms and void (ἐτεῇ ἄτομα καὶ κενόν); Aristotle and Epicurus speak of ἄτομα σώματα, and Epicurus and his school also use the feminine noun αἱ ἄτομοι, “the atoms”.^[5][2] Aristotle uses it of indivisible lines and magnitudes and of an indivisible instant of time, and in logic, after Plato, of a species that cannot be divided further and of the individual.^[5][2] Dionysius of Halicarnassus applies it to words that are not compounds.^[5]

In the New Testament the phrase “in an indivisible moment” means “in an instant”.^[3][5] It was borrowed as Latin atomus, the source of the English word atom (late 15th century), revived as a scientific term by John Dalton in 1805.^[8][9] In Modern Greek the learned noun άτομο (átomo) means both “individual, person”, a semantic loan from French individu, and the physical “atom”, a semantic loan from atome.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of an unmown meadow.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Democritus calls the indivisible particles of matter ἄτομα.^[5][2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it in logic of what cannot be divided further.^[5][2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle writes of indivisible lines, magnitudes and instants, and of the individual.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus applies it to words that are not compounds.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The First Letter to the Corinthians uses “in an indivisible moment” for “in an instant”.^[3][5]
• Late 15th century – English borrows atom through Latin.^[9]
• 1805 – John Dalton revives the English word as a scientific term.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Uncut, unmown; of a beard, unshorn; of frankincense, in lumps.^[5][6][2]
2. That cannot be cut or divided, indivisible, of lines and magnitudes.^[5][2]
3. (philosophy, as a noun, τὰ ἄτομα, αἱ ἄτομοι) The indivisible particles of matter, atoms.^[5][2]
4. Of time, indivisible; ἐν ἀτόμῳ, “in an instant”.^[5][3]
5. (logic) Not further divisible into species; as a noun, τὸ ἄτομον, the individual.^[5][2]
6. (grammar) Of words, not compound.^[5]
7. Infinitely small, of differences.^[5][2]

Related words

• τέμνω (témnō)
• τομή (tomḗ)
• Latin atomus
• English atom

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας