ῥυθμός Ancient Greek · revision 2283

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=7th century BC, Archilochus|origins=ine-pro *srew-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /r̥ytʰ.mós/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ryθˈmos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ryθˈmos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ῥῠθμός''' (rhuthmós) ''m'' (genitive ῥῠθμοῦ); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Ionic [[ῥυσμός|tr=rhusmós]].^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|grk-pro|*hrutʰmós]],^(Wiktionary) corresponding to [[ine-pro|*sru-dʰ-mo-s]], from [[m|ine-pro|*srew-|t=to flow]], the root of [[ῥέω|tr=rhéō]] “to flow”.^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ Beekes and Frisk accept this old connection with flowing, “streaming” being the typical image of a quiet and steady movement.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) The short υ (for instance in Aeschylus) rules out links with [[ῥύομαι|tr=rhúomai]] “to protect” or [[ἐρύω|tr=erúō]] “to draw”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in Archilochus, for the pattern or tenor that governs human affairs, and in Anacreon and Theognis for a person's disposition.^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In early prose it is shape or arrangement: Herodotus uses it of the shapes of written letters, Pindar of the pattern of a temple, and Aristotle of the form of matter.^(CGL 2021) From the 5th century BC it is the rhythm of music, verse and dance: Plato defines it as “the order of movement”, and in the ''Symposium'' as arising from fast and slow brought into agreement; ἐν ῥυθμῷ meant “in time, in step” (Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon).^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010) Aristophanes and Plato contrast it with metre and harmony, and Aristotle discusses the rhythm of prose.^(LSJ 1940) The Suda calls rhythm the father of metre, metre being one kind of rhythm.^(Suda)

+

+ In the Septuagint it can mean form or proportion, as in the Song of Songs' shapely lines of the thighs.^(Lust 2003) It was borrowed as [[la|rhythmus]], and through Old French [[m|fro|rime]] it is the source of [[en|rhyme]] and [[en|rhythm]], both 16th-century respellings of Middle English rime.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ [[el|ρυθμός|tr=rythmós]] is learned: its sense of pace or tempo (of work, of life) is modelled on French [[m|fr|rythme]], and its sense of style in architecture and art revives the ancient meaning “form, shape”.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it for the tenor of human affairs.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 6th century BC – Anacreon and Theognis use it for a person's disposition.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the shapes of letters, and Aeschylus of a galloping horse.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato defines it as the order of movement.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle discusses the rhythm of prose.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 16th century – English ''rhyme'' and ''rhythm'' are respelled after the Greek word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Orderly form or configuration, shape, [[m|en|pattern]].^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Characteristic style or mode, as of clothing.^(CGL 2021)

+ # A person's characteristic manner, [[m|en|disposition]].^(CGL 2021)

+ # The manner of an action; the tenor of human affairs.^(CGL 2021)

+ # Orderly movement, motion.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # [[m|en|rhythm|alt=Rhythm]] of verse, prose, music or dance.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # In phrases such as ἐν ῥυθμῷ and μετὰ ῥυθμοῦ: in time, in step.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Measure, proportion, symmetry.^(Wiktionary)^(Lust 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἄρρυθμος|tr=árrhuthmos]]

+ * [[εὔρυθμος|tr=eúruthmos]]

+ * [[ῥυθμικός|tr=rhuthmikós]]

+ * [[ῥυθμίζω|tr=rhuthmízō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ῥέω|tr=rhéō]]

+ * [[la|rhythmus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}