ὀσμή

Forms

ὀσμή (osmḗ) f (genitive ὀσμῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the Attic form of ὀδμή (odmḗ), the only form in Homer, Herodotus and Pindar,^[2][3][4] and a derivative from Ancient Greek ὄζω (ózō, “to smell”) with the suffix -μή (-mḗ).^[1][5] Beekes does not take the Attic ⟨σμ⟩ as a regular change of ⟨δμ⟩: he derives this form from a variant with an inserted /s/.^[4]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell”).^[4] The older form may correspond exactly to Albanian amë (“unpleasant smell”), from *h₃ed-mh₂-, and the root is also in Latin odor.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The older form ὀδμή (odmḗ) is found from the Iliad on, first of the dreadful smell of sulphur (14.415).^[2][6] The form ὀσμή itself is first found in Hipponax.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was used of any smell, very often a foul one, from animals, dung, corpses or rotting food, but also of the fragrance of incense, flowers, wine and sacrifices.^[3][2] It was the scent of a man or an animal that hunters and predators follow, and Democritus uses the older form for the sense of smell itself.^[3][2] The tragedians and Thucydides already write ὀσμή, but the older form lived on in later prose.^[5][2]

In the Septuagint the phrase ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας, “a smell of fragrance”, renders the Hebrew expression for a pleasing offering.^[7] The New Testament uses it for the fragrance of ointment, and figuratively for something that affects the mind like an odour.^[5][8] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word for smells pleasant and unpleasant.^[9] Modern Greek οσμή (osmí) is a learned word for “smell”, found in the saying “money has no smell”.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the older form ὀδμή (odmḗ) for the smell of sulphur.^[2][6]
• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses the form ὀσμή.^[4]
• 5th century BC – Democritus uses the older form for the sense of smell.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – The tragedians and Thucydides write ὀσμή.^[5]
• 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek uses it for any smell.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned word means “smell”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A smell or odour, often an unpleasant one.^[2][3]
2. A pleasant smell, fragrance, as of incense, flowers, wine or sacrifices.^[3][5]
3. The scent of a person or an animal, as followed by predators.^[3]
4. The sense of smell.^[2][3]
5. (Septuagint) In ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας: a fragrant offering.^[7]
6. (figurative, New Testament) Something that affects the mind as an odour does.^[5]

Related words

• ὀδμή (odmḗ)
• ὄζω (ózō)
• ὄσφρησις (ósphrēsis)
• Latin odor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 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
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki