ὁλοκαύτωμα

Forms

ὁλοκαύτωμα (holokaútōma) n (genitive ὁλοκαυτώματος); third declension.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek ὁλοκαυτόω (holokautóō, “to offer a whole burnt offering”), the more usual form of ὁλοκαυτέω (holokautéō).^[3][4][1] The verb is formed from ὁλόκαυτος (holókautos, “burnt whole”), whose parts are ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and the verbal adjective of καίω (kaíō, “to burn”).^[4][5][6]

The Etymologicum Magnum derived the first part from a verb meaning “to destroy”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Greek translation of the Pentateuch, from Exodus on, for a whole burnt offering, a sacrifice in which the victim is entirely burnt.^[8][9][1]

Semantic evolution

The word is a creation of biblical Greek: it is not in general Greek usage, although Xenophon already has the verb.^[10][4] The Septuagint uses it about two hundred times, most often for Biblical Hebrew עֹלָה (ʿōlā), and also has the synonym ὁλοκαύτωσις (holokaútōsis).^[9][11] Philo and Josephus use it, and in the New Testament it appears in Mark and Hebrews beside θυσία.^[10][1][4] Christian writers applied it figuratively to a martyr burnt for his faith: the Martyrdom of Polycarp calls him an acceptable burnt offering.^[10] Coptic borrowed it.^[12]

Medieval vernacular Greek, in its translation of the Pentateuch, kept the word for the animal burnt whole and for the sacrifice.^[13] In Modern Greek ολοκαύτωμα (olokáftoma) is a learned word for a great sacrifice of lives, as in the self-destruction of the Arkadi monastery, and for the destruction of many people, above all the Nazi genocide of the Jews; this sense follows French holocauste and the English word holocaust, which come from Latin holocaustum.^[14][5]

Timeline

• 3rd century BC – The Septuagint translation of the Pentateuch uses it for the whole burnt offering, from Exodus on.^[8][9]
• 1st century AD – Josephus uses it.^[1][15]
• 4th century AD – The Martyrdom of Polycarp, as the DGE dates it, calls the martyr a burnt offering acceptable to God.^[10][15]
• 1100–1669 – A vernacular translation of the Pentateuch uses it for the sacrificial animal and the sacrifice.^[13]
• Modern Greek – The learned word ολοκαύτωμα (olokáftoma) means a great sacrifice of lives and the mass destruction of people.^[14][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Septuagint, New Testament) A whole burnt offering, a sacrifice in which the victim is entirely burnt; also the victim itself.^{[1][9][10][2]}
2. (Christian, figurative) A martyr put to death by fire, seen as such an offering.^[10]

Related words

• ὁλοκαυτέω (holokautéō)
• ὁλοκαύτωσις (holokaútōsis)
• ὅλος (hólos)
• καίω (kaíō)
• Latin holocaustum

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses it as what is consecrated whole by fire.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
4. ^ a b c d Thayer, Joseph Henry (1889), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book Company
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
12. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
13. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
16. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)