Etymologically
Log in

genesis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 11:38. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɡɛ.nɛ.sɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈd͡ʒɛː.ne.s̬is][1]

Forms

genesis f (genitive genesis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis, “origin, birth, creation”),[2][3][1] from γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born, become”),[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).[1][5] The Greek translators of the Bible used it as the title of the first book, rendering Hebrew ⟨bereshith⟩ “in the beginning”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Petronius as its first author: a guest born under the Crab says he has put nothing on top of that sign, nē genesim meam premerem “so as not to weigh down my horoscope”.[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is mostly a term of astrology, a person's birth as the stars ruled it: horoscope, nativity, destiny.[2][6] Juvenal mocks a woman who will not ask for eye salve before she has looked at her horoscope, and Suetonius tells of a man believed to have an imperial horoscope.[7][6] Pliny the Elder uses it in its plain Greek sense when he says that the relief on the base of a statue of Minerva showed the birth of Pandora.[7][6]

From Tertullian on it is the name of the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis.[7][8] Medieval Latin kept both the horoscope and the biblical book, and also used it of origin or descent.[9] Old English took the name of the book, and English used genesis for “origin, creation” by about 1600.[4]

Timeline

  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a horoscope.[2][6][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the birth of Pandora.[7][5]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal mocks people who consult their horoscope.[7][6][5]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it as the name of the first book of Moses.[7][5]
  • 1st third of the 8th century AD – Bede speaks of the whole story of Genesis.[9][5]
  • c. 1600 – English uses genesis for “origin, creation”.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. birth, nativity, origin.[2][7]
  2. A person's birth as ruled by the stars: horoscope, destiny.[2][6]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The Book of Genesis.[7][8][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Origin, descent.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press