αἴνιγμα Ancient Greek · revision 3270

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=6th–5th century BC, Pindar|origins=grc αἶνος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ǎi̯.niŋ.ma/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈɛ.niɣ.ma/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈe.niɣ.ma/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''αἴνῐγμᾰ''' (aínigma) ''n'' (genitive αἰνῐ́γμᾰτος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from [[αἰνίσσομαι|tr=ainíssomai|t=to speak in riddles]], with the suffix of result nouns [[m|grc|-μα|tr=-ma]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(CGL 2021) That verb comes from [[αἶνος|tr=aînos|t=meaningful speech, tale]], and its sense shifted from “to make a meaningful speech” to “to speak darkly”.^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010) The origin of αἶνος is unknown.^(Beekes 2010) Pokorny's comparison with Germanic words for “oath” such as [[got|𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃|tr=aiþs]] is mostly rejected.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest use is in a fragment of Pindar, of the riddle that the Sphinx put “from her savage jaws”.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In tragedy it is a riddle in the narrow sense, especially the Sphinx's, which Oedipus solves, and also any veiled or allusive speech: in the ''Agamemnon'' Cassandra's way of speaking is “out of riddles”.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940) Plato uses it for a puzzle posed as a test, and Aristotle's ''Poetics'' defines it as a figure made up entirely of metaphors.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE) The Pythagoreans were said to teach by riddling maxims.^(DGE)

+

+ In the Septuagint it renders the “dark sayings” of the wise, and Paul's “we see through a mirror ''en ainigmati''” has been read as “in a riddle” or as “indirectly, by reflection”.^(Lust 2003)^(BDAG 2000) Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|aenigma]], which reached English as ''enigma'' in the 1530s.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Modern Greek [[m|el|αίνιγμα|tr=ainigma]] is a learned word for a riddle and for anything hard to understand.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of the Sphinx's riddle.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for veiled, oblique speech.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle's ''Poetics'' treats it as a figure built of metaphors.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – Paul writes that we now see “through a mirror, in a riddle”.^(BDAG 2000)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1530s – English borrows ''enigma'', through Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A dark saying; veiled or [[m|en|allusive]] speech.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A [[m|en|riddle]] posed as a puzzle or test, such as the Sphinx's.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' A figure composed entirely of metaphors.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ # A puzzling situation or problem.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' An indirect image, as in a mirror.^(BDAG 2000)^(DGE)

+ # ''(Theban)'' An [[m|en|ambush]].^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[αἰνιγματώδης|tr=ainigmatṓdēs]]

+ * [[αἰνιγματικός|tr=ainigmatikós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[αἶνος|tr=aînos]]

+ * [[αἰνίσσομαι|tr=ainíssomai]]

+ * [[la|aenigma]]

+ * [[en|enigma]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}