ἆσθμα

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /âːstʰ.ma/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈasθ.ma/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈasθ.ma/^[1]

Forms

ἆσθμᾰ (âsthma) n (genitive ᾱ̓́σθμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unclear.^[2][3] It is formed with the suffix -θμα (-thma) seen in ἴθμα (íthma).^[2][3] It is traditionally traced to an earlier *ἄνσθμα (*ánsthma) from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”), the root of ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”), with an /s/ that is hard to explain, as in ἰσθμός (isthmós).^[3][4][1] Chantraine suggests that the /s/ is there for its imitative sound.^[2][1] Beekes rejects this link, because that root would have given *ἀνε- (*ane-) even in its zero grade, and he suspects that the word itself is onomatopoeic.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the short, hard breathing of a warrior, named together with sweat.^[5][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Aeschylus and Plato it is gasping for breath from exhaustion, and in Pindar the death-rattle.^[5][7][4] The Hippocratic Aphorisms make it a medical term for asthma.^[5][4][8] Later poets and prose writers, from Moschus and Lucian on, use it for breath and breathing in general, and for a blast of wind or of fire.^[5][4] The denominative verb ἀσθμαίνω (asthmaínō) “to pant” is Homeric too.^[2][3]

English asthma comes from it through Latin, first as Middle English asma in the late 14th century.^[9] Modern Greek άσθμα (ásthma) is a learned word for the illness.^[10][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a warrior's hard breathing.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for gasping from exhaustion, and Pindar for the death-rattle.^[5][4]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Aphorisms use it for asthma.^[5][4]
• 2nd century BC – Moschus uses it for breath in general.^[5][4]
• Late 14th century – English borrows it, through Latin, as asma.^[9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek άσθμα (ásthma) is the learned name of the disease.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Short, hard breathing, panting.^[5][7]
2. The death-rattle.^[5][4]
3. (medicine) Asthma.^[5][4]
4. Breath, breathing; a blast of wind or of fire.^[5][4][7]

Word family

• ἀσθμαίνω (asthmaínō)
• ἀσθματικός (āsthmatikós)

Related words

• English asthma

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki