chaos English · revision 2367

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈkeɪ.ɒs/ ''(UK)''; /ˈkeɪˌɑs/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|chaos]], earlier ''cahos'',^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995) [[bor|fro|chaos]]^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) or [[bor|la|chaos]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) [[der|grc|χάος|tr=kháos|t=abyss, chasm, gaping void]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) from the PIE root ''*ghieh-'' “to yawn, gape”.^(Etymonline) It is akin to ''chasm'', ''yawn'' and ''gape''.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A gaping void or chasm (c1440), chiefly from the Latin Bible's rendering of Luke 16:26.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates the form ''cahos'' to before 1396.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hesiod made Chaos the primeval emptiness of the universe, and Ovid opposed it to the ordered Kosmos;^(Etymonline) through the Latin Bible's account of creation it came to mean the formless void out of which the ordered universe arose (1531).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) From this theological sense came “utter confusion and disorder” (c1600) and “a confused mass” (1579).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) In the 20th century mathematics adopted the word for behaviour governed by fixed laws that is nonetheless so sensitive to initial conditions that it appears random.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a1396 – ''cahos''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * c1440 – a gaping void or chasm.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1494 – the form ''chaos''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1531 – the formless void before creation.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1579 – a confused mass or mixture.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1606 – utter confusion and disorder.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1713 – ''chaotic''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1960 – ''(mathematics)'' apparently random behaviour of a deterministic system.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A state of utter confusion or disorder.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A confused, disorderly mass; a jumble.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The formless matter and infinite space supposed to have existed before the ordered universe; also its personification in Greek myth.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(mathematics, physics)'' The inherent unpredictability of a complex system, in which tiny differences in starting conditions grow into large ones.^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' A chasm or abyss.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chaotic]]

+ * [[chaotically]]

+ * [[chaos theory]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chasm]]

+ * [[gas]]

+ * [[cosmos]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}