Etymologically
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aenigma

Etymology and origin of the Latin word aenigma

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ae̯ˈnɪɡ.ma][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [eˈniɡ.ma][1]

Forms

aenigma n (genitive aenigmatis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, riddle”),[2][3][1] from αἰνίσσομαι (ainíssomai, “to speak in riddles”), from αἶνος (aînos, “tale, saying”), a word of unknown origin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero,[2][5] who calls something a riddle more obscure than Plato's number and writes of the obscurities and riddles of dreams.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It meant an obscure saying or riddle, and in rhetoric an allegory too obscure to understand, which Quintilian counts as a fault, though poets use it.[2][7] Grammarians define it as speech that shows one thing and means another, giving the example “my mother bore me and is soon born of me”, meaning ice and water.[7] Martial calls the Sphinx aenigma Thebanum.[6]

In the Vulgate it meant a dark saying, and Paul's per speculum in aenigmate “through a glass, darkly” made in aenigmate a phrase for indirect knowledge.[5][8] Arnobius used it for a religious mystery.[5][9] English borrowed it as English enigma in the 1530s.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the riddles of dreams.[5][10]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian defines it as an obscure allegory.[7][10]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has seeing “in a riddle”.[5][10]
  • 1530s – English borrows it as English enigma.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A riddle, obscure saying.[2][5]
  2. (rhetoric) An obscure allegory.[5][7]
  3. Something dark or inexplicable, an enigma.[5]
  4. (religion) A mystery.[5][8]

Word family

  • aenigmatista
  • aenigmaticus
  • aenigmaticē
  • English enigma

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Aenigma.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/aenigma. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .