ἡμισφαίριον

Forms

ἡμῐσφαίρῐον (hēmisphaírion) n (genitive ἡμῐσφαιρῐ́ου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἡμι- (hēmi-, “half”) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”) + -ιον (-ion, “diminutive suffix”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest texts in the GLAUx corpus that have it are Aristotle's treatises, On the Heavens and the Meteorology, and the works of the astronomer Autolycus, all of the 4th century BC, where it means a hemisphere of the heavens or of the earth.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Greek mathematics and astronomy used the word in several senses: the solid half of a sphere, half of the celestial sphere above or below the horizon, and the curved half of the earth on either side of it, which the ancients knew only by reasoning.^[7] The comic poet Alexis and the dialogue Axiochus, ascribed to Plato, have it too, and Philo speaks of the two hemispheres in the dual.^[8][9]

It was also the name of things of that shape: a domed vault, the bowl of a kind of sundial and then the sundial itself.^[7] It passed into Latin as hemisphaerium.^[10][7]

Medieval Greek kept the word with the same sense.^[11] Modern Greek uses it as a learned word, ημισφαίριο (imisfério), for each half of a sphere and of the globe (the northern and southern hemispheres) and for each half of the brain; the word passed into other languages, among them hemisphere and French hémisphère.^[12][13][5]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in On the Heavens and the Meteorology, and Autolycus in his astronomical works.^[4][5][6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – The comic poet Alexis uses it.^[8][6]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo speaks of the two hemispheres in the dual.^[8][6]
• 3rd century AD – Porphyry uses it in On the Cave of the Nymphs.^[8][6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek keeps the word.^[11]
• Modern Greek – ημισφαίριο (imisfério) is a learned word for the halves of the globe and of the brain.^[12][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hemisphere, half of a sphere.^[8][14][7]
2. (astronomy) Half of the celestial sphere, above or below the horizon; also half of the globe of the earth.^[7][1]
3. Something hemispherical: a dome, the bowl of a sundial.^[7]

Related words

• σφαιρικός (sphairikós)
• Latin hemisphaerium
• English hemisphere

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d e f Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
14. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli