ἀδάμας Ancient Greek · revision 2277

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|attested=Before the 6th century BC, Hesiod}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.dá.maːs/^(Wiktionary)

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

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /aˈða.mas/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ἀδᾰ́μᾱς''' (adámās) ''m'' (genitive ἀδᾰ́μᾰντος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is often derived from [[ἀ-|tr=a-]] “not” and [[δάμνημι|tr=dámnēmi]] “to tame, subdue”, as “indomitable”, formed like [[ἀκάμας|tr=akámas]], and identified with the Homeric personal name Ἀδάμας.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Beekes finds this semantically strange and takes the word rather as a loanword adapted by folk etymology.^(Beekes 2010) Troxler and Barb proposed a Semitic source, comparing [[akk|adamu]], and Lubotsky compared the Neo-Phrygian (α)τεαμα “stone”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Frisk likewise suspects a foreign origin because of the meaning, and the CGL marks the link with δάμνημι as a popular etymology.^(Frisk 1960)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer has it only as a personal name, Adamas, a Trojan.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924) As a common noun it first appears in Hesiod, for a legendary metal of surpassing hardness, probably steel: the great sickle used to mutilate Cronus is made of grey adamant, and the shield of Heracles has fittings of pale adamant.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It remained the type of hardness and rigidity: Hesiod's men of the bronze race had hearts of adamant, Pindar speaks of a heart forged of adamant or iron, an oracle in Herodotus speaks a word “fixed with adamant”, and Plato makes the hook of the spindle of Necessity of adamant.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940) In Theophrastus it is the diamond, and Plato probably meant that already.^(LSJ 1940) Alexis uses it as a metaphor for the hard toil of love.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) It appears in the Septuagint in Amos 7:7–8.^(Lust 2003)

+

+ Medieval Greek used it for the diamond, as does the learned [[el|αδάμας|tr=adámas]] that Triantafyllidis glosses as διαμάντι.^(Kriaras)^(Triantafyllidis 1998) It was borrowed as [[la|adamans]], and a Vulgar Latin *adiamantem, altered under the influence of Greek words in dia-, gave [[en|diamond]] through Old French; [[en|adamant]] goes back to the same Latin word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – only the personal name Adamas.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod: the sickle of grey adamant.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Pindar: a heart forged of adamant.^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – an oracle in Herodotus: a word “fixed with adamant”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato: the hook of Necessity's spindle.^(DGE)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the diamond.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * Mid-14th century – English ''diamaunt'', through Vulgar Latin and Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|adamant|alt=Adamant]], a legendary metal of surpassing hardness, probably [[m|en|steel]]; often figurative, of stubbornness or rigidity.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ # [[m|en|diamond|alt=Diamond]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A hard metal resembling gold.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(late)'' Unbreakable, and ''(figurative)'' fixed, unalterable.^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀδαμάντινος|tr=adamántinos]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|adamans]]

+ * [[en|adamant]]

+ * [[en|diamond]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Hesychius glosses it as “unfeeling, disobedient, fearless, strong”, as “the stone”, and as a kind of iron.^(Hesychius)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}