chaos Latin · revision 4168
15 Oct 2026, 21:12 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Virgil|origins=grc χάος}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkʰa.ɔs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.os]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''chaos''' ''n sg'' (genitive chaī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|χάος|tr=kháos|t=chasm, void]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874) Etymonline traces the Greek word to [[ine-pro|*ǵʰeh₂-|t=to yawn, gape]].^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) In Classical Latin only the nominative and accusative ''chaos'' and the ablative [[m|la|chaō]] are used.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Virgil, in the Georgics, has the loves of the gods counted from Chaos onward.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was the formless state of primordial matter, or the time of it, and personified Chaos, the father of Night and Erebus, in Virgil.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) It was also the boundless empty space thought of as the realm of darkness, the underworld, as Ovid's “by this huge Chaos and the silence of the vast realm”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ Christian and medieval writers used it of the abyss of darkness and confusion, of Hell, and of the great gulf in the parable of Lazarus in Luke.^(DMLBS)^(MLW) Medieval Latin also used it figuratively of disorder, desolation and shapelessness.^(MLW)^(Köbler 2010) English ''chaos'' is recorded in the late 14th century for a gaping void, and in the sense of utter confusion about 1600.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the primordial state.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the underworld.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 14th century – English ''chaos'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ * c. 1600 – English ''chaos'' “utter confusion” is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The formless primordial state of matter, [[m|en|chaos]], ''(personified)'' Chaos.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # The [[m|en|underworld]]; boundless dark space.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' An [[m|en|abyss]], a chasm, Hell.^(DMLBS)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Confusion, disorder.^(MLW)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|chaos]]
+ * [[en|gas]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}