ἵμερος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The old connection with Sanskrit ईष्म (īṣma, “spring; a god of love”), which belongs to इच्छति (icchati, “to desire, wish”), may be semantically possible, but it leaves the secondary suffix -ερο- (-ero-) unexplained. Another proposal by Bally assumed a reconstruction *si-smer-o-, by comparison of Avestan 𐬵𐬌𐬱𐬨𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬥𐬙 (hišmarant, “well conducted”) to Sanskrit स्मरति (smarati, “to remember, call to mind”). As remarked by Weiss, the problem with these proposals is that they lead to expect Aeolic Greek *ἵμμερος (*hímmeros), while it is consistently found ἵμερος (hímeros) in Sappho and Alcaeus. Weiss convincingly derives this word from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂y- (“to tie, bind”) instead: he reconstructs a heteroclitic *seh₂i-mr̥, *sh₂i-men-, with a suffix *-mer/n- also found in τέκμαρ (tékmar) and ἦμαρ (êmar); he also compares αἵμων (haímōn, “eager”). This means that originally this word meant "bond, spell".

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hǐː.me.ros/ → /ˈi.me.ros/ → /ˈi.me.ros/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hǐː.me.ros/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)i.me.ros/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.me.ros/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.me.ros/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈi.me.ros/

Noun

ῑ̔́μερος • (hī́meros) m (genitive ῑ̔μέρου); second declension

1. yearning, longing
2. desire, love

Declension

Second declension of ὁ ῑ̔́μερος; τοῦ ῑ̔μέρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ῑ̔́μερος ho hī́meros	τὼ ῑ̔μέρω tṑ hīmérō	οἱ ῑ̔́μεροι hoi hī́meroi
Genitive	τοῦ ῑ̔μέρου toû hīmérou	τοῖν ῑ̔μέροιν toîn hīméroin	τῶν ῑ̔μέρων tôn hīmérōn
Dative	τῷ ῑ̔μέρῳ tôi hīmérōi	τοῖν ῑ̔μέροιν toîn hīméroin	τοῖς ῑ̔μέροις toîs hīmérois
Accusative	τὸν ῑ̔́μερον tòn hī́meron	τὼ ῑ̔μέρω tṑ hīmérō	τοὺς ῑ̔μέρους toùs hīmérous
Vocative	ῑ̔́μερε hī́mere	ῑ̔μέρω hīmérō	ῑ̔́μεροι hī́meroi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἐφῑ́μερος (ephī́meros)
• ῑ̔μείρω (hīmeírō)
• ῑ̔μεράμπυξ (hīmerámpux)
• ῑ̔μερόγυιος (hīmeróguios)
• ῑ̔μερόεις (hīmeróeis)
• ῑ̔μεροθαλής (hīmerothalḗs)
• ῑ̔μερόνους (hīmerónous)
• ῑ̔μερόομαι (hīmeróomai)
• ῑ̔μερόπνους (hīmerópnous)
• ῑ̔μερόφρων (hīmeróphrōn)
• ῑ̔μερόφωνος (hīmeróphōnos)
• ῑ̔μερτός (hīmertós)
• ῑ̔μερώδης (hīmerṓdēs)

 

Descendants

• Greek: ίμερος (ímeros)

Further reading

• “ἵμερος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἵμερος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἵμερος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἵμερος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἵμερος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ἵμερος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • affection idem, page 16.
  • desire idem, page 215.
  • glow idem, page 363.
  • longing idem, page 498.
  • love idem, page 502.
  • lust idem, page 505.
  • meek idem, page 522.
  • passion idem, page 597.
  • pining idem, page 613.
  • wistfulness idem, page 983.
  • yearning idem, page 995.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN