ὠμός

Forms

ὠμός (ōmós) m (feminine ὠμή, neuter ὠμόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ōmós,^[1] an old Indo-European adjective for “raw”, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₃mós (“raw”).^[2][1][3] Beekes allows a pre-form *h₃eHmos beside this one.^[2] It matches exactly Sanskrit आम (āmá-, “raw, unripe”) and Old Armenian հում (hum, “raw”), and Wiktionary adds Irish amh (“raw”).^[2][4][5][1]

Pokorny also connected Latin amārus (“bitter”), but Chantraine finds this unconvincing and Babiniotis rejects it.^[4][6]

A Byzantine etymologicon records Philoxenus' view that the word comes from the verb “to be”, raw meat being what stays as it was and has not changed.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is used of meat that is not cooked, and in the Odyssey it is set against ὀπταλέος (optaléos, “roasted”), the Iliad speaks of eating Priam raw.^[8][9][10] Hesiod and the Odyssey also use it of an untimely old age, one that comes too early.^[9]

Semantic evolution

To eat someone raw remained a proverbial image of savage cruelty in Xenophon.^[8] From the 5th century BC the word was used of people and their deeds as “cruel, savage”: Aeschylus speaks of masters harsh to their slaves and of a savage temper, Thucydides of a cruel decision and of how savage a civil strife became.^[8][9]

It also meant “unripe”, of fruit, in Aristophanes and Xenophon, and “unprocessed, crude”: untilled soil, unbaked pottery, untanned leather, raw pitch, and in medicine undigested food.^[8][9] The Septuagint has both the literal and the figurative sense: the Passover lamb is not to be eaten raw, and in Maccabees a tyrant is called most cruel.^[11]

Modern Greek ωμός (omós) continues the ancient word.^[12] Its derivative ὠμότης (ōmótēs) survives as Modern Greek ωμότητα (omótita, “cruelty”).^[6] English has it in the combining form omo- “raw”.^[13]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of raw flesh, of eating Priam raw.^[8][10]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of a premature old age.^[9][14]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of savage masters and a savage temper.^[8][14]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of a cruel decision and of a savage civil strife.^[8][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of unripe fruit.^[8][14]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of unbaked earthenware and of crude, undigested matter.^[8][14]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek ωμός (omós) continues the ancient adjective.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Raw, uncooked, of meat and other food.^[8][9]
2. Of human flesh, eaten raw, an image of savage hatred: “to eat someone raw”.^[8][9]
3. Of fruit and crops, unripe; of old age, coming too early, premature.^[8][9]
4. Not processed: of soil, untilled; of pottery, unbaked; of leather and pitch, raw.^[8][9]
5. (medicine) Undigested, crude.^[8]
6. Of people and their acts, cruel, savage, fierce.^[8][9][11]

Word family

• ὠμοθετέω (ōmothetéō)
• ὠμόλινον (ōmólinon)
• ὠμοτριβής (ōmotribḗs)
• ὠμότης (ōmótēs)
• ὠμηστής (ōmēstḗs)
• ὠμοφάγος (ōmophágos)

Related words

• Modern Greek ωμός (omós)
• English omo-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge