θησαυρός Ancient Greek · revision 2244

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=Before the 6th century BC, Hesiod|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /tʰɛː.sau̯.rós/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /θi.saˈβros/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /θi.saˈvros/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''θησαυρός''' (thēsaurós) ''m'' (genitive θησαυροῦ); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It has no etymology.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Πάπυρος) Beekes regards it as a technical term borrowed from Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]], and its shape suggests a pre-form in *-arw-.^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014) Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as very reliable.^(PHILOGLOSSA)

+

+ Older explanations divided it into θησ-, from [[τίθημι|tr=títhēmi|t=to put]], and a second part: either -αυρος “water” (as in [[ἄναυρος|tr=ánauros]]), giving “a place where water is stored”, or [[αὔρα|tr=aúra|t=breeze, air]], giving “a store set in the open air”.^(Frisk 1960)^(Πάπυρος) Kretschmer rejected the latter, and Πάπυρος notes that no other compound begins with such a θησ-.^(Frisk 1960)^(Πάπυρος)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|thēsaurus]], together with the verb [[m|la|thēsaurizō]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Hesiod's ''Works and Days'', which calls a sparing tongue the best treasure among men.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Greek it was a store or treasure, literal and figurative: Aeschylus calls the silver mines of Laurion a “treasure of the land”, Pindar speaks of a treasure of hymns, Euripides of a treasure of evils, and Xenophon of the treasures that the wise left behind in books.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) A proverb said of disappointed hopes that “the treasure turned out to be coals”.^(LSJ 1940)

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+ It was also the place where things were kept: a storeroom or strong-room in Herodotus, and especially the small buildings that Greek cities put up at Delphi and other sanctuaries to hold their offerings.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) It could be a chest or casket for valuables, and Aeschylus calls a quiver a “treasure for arrows”.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Inscriptions from the 4th century BC use it for the offertory box of a temple, and papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt for a granary.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ In the Septuagint it is a treasure, a treasury or a granary.^(Lust 2003) In the New Testament it is a treasure chest in Matthew, and the good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart.^(BDAG 2000)^(LSJ 1940)

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+ Medieval vernacular Greek used it for treasure, wealth and a treasury.^(Kriaras) Modern Greek [[m|el|θησαυρός|tr=thisavrós]] is a treasure and the public treasury; as a learned word it names the treasuries of the ancient sanctuaries and the Mycenaean vaulted tombs, such as the “Treasury of Atreus”, and, after New Latin ''thesaurus'', a dictionary of the whole vocabulary of a language.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod calls a sparing tongue a treasure.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus calls the silver mines of Laurion a treasure of the land.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a storeroom and for the treasuries at Delphi.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 4th century BC – Inscriptions use it for the offertory box of a temple.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 3rd century BC – Papyri use it for a granary.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century AD – Matthew uses it for a treasure chest.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Modern Greek – It also means a dictionary of the whole vocabulary of a language.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A store, [[m|en|treasure]] or hoard.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A storeroom or strong-room; a [[m|en|treasury]], especially one built by a city at a sanctuary such as Delphi.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A [[m|en|granary]].^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A chest or casket for valuables, and figuratively a quiver.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # An offertory box in a temple.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A treasure of something good or bad: of learning, of hymns, of the heart.^(LSJ 1940)^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[θησαυρίζω|tr=thēsaurízō]]

+ * [[θησαύρισμα|tr=thēsaúrisma]]

+ * [[θησαυρισμός|tr=thēsaurismós]]

+ * [[θησαυροφύλαξ|tr=thēsaurophúlax]]

+ * [[θησαυρώδης|tr=thēsaurṓdēs]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|thēsaurus]]

+ * [[en|thesaurus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Hesychius defines it as a building for keeping statues, money or sacred objects.^(Hesychius)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}