χάος

Ancient Greek

Pronunciation

 

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Has traditionally been connected to χαίνω (khaínō), χάσκω (kháskō, I gape, yawn) (< Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂-) or χώρα (khṓra, open space, place). Beekes additionally compares Baltic and Germanic words for “palate”: Old High German guomo, goumo, Old Norse gómr, Lithuanian gomurỹs < ? PIE *ǵʰeh₂-mn-.

Noun

χᾰ́ος (kháos) n (genitive χᾰ́εος or χᾰ́ους); third declension

  1. the primordial state of existence
  2. space, air
  3. abyss, chasm
  4. infinite darkness
Declension

Normally, only in singular; but χάη occasionally found.

Descendants

Etymology 2

Adjective

χᾰ́ος (kháos) m or f (neuter χᾰ́ον); second declension

  1. Alternative spelling of χάϊος (kháïos) "genuine, true"
Declension

Further reading

  • χάος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • χάος in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • χάος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
  • Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,006
  • Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “χάος, -εος, -ους”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 1614

Greek

Etymology

Ancient Greek χάος (kháos). For sense disorder, mess, semantic loan from French chaos (in that sense) from Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈxaos/
  • Hyphenation: χά‧ος

Noun

χάος (cháos) n

  1. (singular only) chaos
  2. (singular only, figuratively) disorder, mess
  3. (singular only, mathematics) chaos

Usage notes

  • Normally, there is no plural: no τα χάη (the chaoses). But poets[2], can conceive them:
    Φύγε κι ἄσε με μοναχό, ποὺ βλέπω νὰ πληθαίνη
    ἀπάνω ἡ νύχτα, καὶ βαθιὰ νὰ γίνωνται τὰ χάη.
    Phúge ki áse me monakhó, poù blépō nà plēthaínē
    apánō hē núkhta, kaì bathià nà gínōntai tà kháē.
    Go and leave me alone looking at the growing
    night upon [me], and the deepening chaoses.
    Kostas Karyotakis, poem Go, my heart is nostlagic from collection 'Elegies and Satires', published in 1927. (Greek text)

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • η θεωρία του χάους (i theoría tou cháous, the chaos theory) (mathematics)
  • χαοτικός (chaotikós, chaotic)

References

  1. χάος in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], 1998, by the "Triantafyllidis" Foundation.
  2. χάη in greek poetry at greek-language.gr retr:2018.09.24.

Further reading

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