ἄβυσσος Ancient Greek · revision 3271

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=5th century BC, Herodotus|origins=grc βυσσός}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /á.bys.sos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈa.βys.sos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈa.vys.sos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ἄβῠσσος''' (ábussos) ''m'' or f (neuter ἄβυσσον); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound of the privative prefix and the noun for the depth of the sea, [[af|grc|ἀ-|βυσσός|tr1=a-|tr2=bussós|t2=depth of the sea]], literally “bottomless”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(CGL 2021) The DGE starts from a form [[m|grc|*βύθιος|tr=*búthios]] instead.^(DGE) Beekes considers βυσσός and its variant [[βυθός|tr=buthós]] Pre-Greek, because the variation ⟨θ⟩ / ⟨σσ⟩ and the suffix of the related gloss [[βύσσαλοι|tr=bússaloi|t=pits]] are typical of the substrate.^(Beekes 2010) Frisk had explained βυσσός from [[m|grc|*βυθι̯ός|tr=*buthiós]] and linked it with [[βαθύς|tr=bathús|t=deep]], which Beekes rejects.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ Wiktionary compares [[sa|अगाध|tr=agādha|t=fathomless]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Herodotus uses it of the springs of the Nile, which he calls bottomless.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE) Aeschylus has “a bottomless sea of ruin”, and Euripides the chasms of Tartarus.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Greek it is an adjective, “bottomless”, and figuratively “boundless”, of wealth in Aeschylus and of money in Aristophanes.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

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+ The Septuagint made the feminine a noun, ''ἡ ἄβυσσος'', for the primeval deep over which darkness lay at the creation, translating Hebrew ''təhōm''; it also means the waters under the earth and the realm of the dead.^(Lust 2003)^(Beekes 2010)^(DGE) In the New Testament the abyss is the prison of demons and of the beast and the abode of the dead.^(BDAG 2000)^(DGE) The magical papyri invoke it beside Olympus, and the Church Fathers speak of the “abyss” of God's teaching.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

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+ Latin borrowed the noun as [[m|la|abyssus]].^(Wiktionary) Medieval vernacular Greek used it for chaos, the underworld and the sea.^(Kriaras) Modern Greek [[m|el|άβυσσος|tr=ávyssos]] is a learned word; its scientific sense of the ocean deep is modelled on French ''abysse'' or English ''abyss''.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus calls the springs of the Nile bottomless.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it figuratively of a sea of ruin and of boundless wealth.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses the feminine as a noun for the primeval deep of Genesis.^(Lust 2003)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the abode of the dead and of demons.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 12th–17th century – Vernacular Greek uses it for chaos, the underworld and the sea.^(Kriaras)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|bottomless]], unfathomed.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Boundless, unfathomable.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Septuagint)'' The great deep, the primeval [[m|en|abyss]] of waters.^(Lust 2003)^(DGE)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' The underworld, abode of the dead and of demons.^(BDAG 2000)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(magical papyri)'' The infinite void.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[βυσσός|tr=bussós]]

+ * [[βυθός|tr=buthós]]

+ * [[la|abyssus]]

+ * [[en|abyss]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}