aenigma Latin · revision 679

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ae̯ˈnɪɡ.ma]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [eˈniɡ.ma]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aenigma''' ''n'' (genitive aenigmatis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|αἴνιγμα|tr=aínigma|t=dark saying, riddle]],^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) from [[m|grc|αἰνίσσομαι|tr=ainíssomai|t=to speak in riddles]], from [[m|grc|αἶνος|tr=aînos|t=tale, saying]], a word of unknown origin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first author is Cicero,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) who calls something a [[m|en|riddle]] more obscure than Plato's number and writes of the obscurities and riddles of dreams.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant an obscure saying or riddle, and in rhetoric an allegory too obscure to understand, which Quintilian counts as a fault, though poets use it.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Grammarians define it as speech that shows one thing and means another, giving the example “my mother bore me and is soon born of me”, meaning ice and water.^(TLL) Martial calls the Sphinx ''aenigma Thebanum''.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ In the Vulgate it meant a dark saying, and Paul's ''per speculum in aenigmate'' “through a glass, darkly” made ''in aenigmate'' a phrase for indirect knowledge.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995) Arnobius used it for a religious mystery.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) English borrowed it as [[en|enigma]] in the 1530s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the riddles of dreams.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian defines it as an obscure allegory.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has seeing “in a riddle”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1530s – English borrows it as [[en|enigma]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|riddle]], obscure saying.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' An obscure [[m|en|allegory]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+ # Something dark or inexplicable, an [[m|en|enigma]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(religion)'' A mystery.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aenigmatista]]

+ * [[aenigmaticus]]

+ * [[aenigmaticē]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|enigma]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}