χάος Ancient Greek · revision 2650

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=before the 6th century BC, Hesiod|origins=ine-pro *gʰeh₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈxa.os/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''χᾰ́ος''' (kháos) ''n'' (genitive χᾰ́εος or χᾰ́ους); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably from ⟨*χάϝος⟩, beside [[χαῦνος|tr=khaûnos|t=loose, porous]], in the same relation as [[ἔρεβος|tr=érebos]] to [[ἐρεμνός|tr=eremnós]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) Its first meaning would then have been “hole, empty space, yawning opening”, and it has long been connected with [[χάσκω|tr=kháskō|t=to gape]], [[χάσμα|tr=khásma|t=chasm]] and [[χήμη|tr=khḗmē]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary takes the root to be [[ine-pro|*gʰeh₂-|t=to yawn, gape]], also seen in Germanic and Baltic words for the palate such as [[goh|guomo]] and [[lt|gomurys|alt=gomurỹs]].^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010) Frisk stressed that we do not know what Hesiod imagined by the word, which limits any etymology.^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ Ancient writers derived it from [[χέω|tr=khéō|t=to pour]], as Zeno the Stoic did, who took the first element to be water, or from a verb “to give way, contain”.^(Etygram)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Hesiod's ''Theogony'' begins its account of the world: “first of all Chaos came to be, and then broad-breasted Earth”.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) The first thing to exist was later usually taken, from Aristotle on, to be empty space.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Ibycus, Bacchylides and Aristophanes use it for the empty expanse of air where birds fly.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) Philosophers saw in it infinite space, as Sextus and Plotinus, or unformed matter, as Lucian; for the Stoics it was water.^(LSJ 1940) Later it was the nether abyss and infinite darkness, joined with Erebus, and Apollonius of Rhodes used it for the black of a starless night.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) The Septuagint uses it for a gaping chasm.^(Lust 2003)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|chaos]], and the Vulgate's use for the formless state of the world before creation led to the sense “utter confusion” in English about 1600.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Dutch ''gas'' was formed from it.^(Wiktionary) Modern Greek [[m|el|χάος|tr=cháos]] is a learned word for the primordial chaos, for space, and, after French, for disorder.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Etygram)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod makes Chaos the first thing to exist.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 6th century BC – Ibycus uses it for the expanse of air.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes' birds fly through it.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle interprets it as empty space.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Zeno the Stoic identifies it with water.^(Etygram)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it for impenetrable darkness.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * Late 14th century – English borrows ''chaos''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|chaos]], the first state of the universe.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # Empty space, the expanse of air.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # Unformed matter, or ''(Stoics)'' water.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # The nether [[m|en|abyss]]; infinite darkness.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A gaping [[m|en|chasm]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Lust 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[χαόω|tr=khaóō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[χαῦνος|tr=khaûnos]]

+ * [[χάσκω|tr=kháskō]]

+ * [[χάσμα|tr=khásma]]

+ * [[la|chaos]]

+ * [[en|chaos]]

+ * [[en|gas]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}