Chaos

See also: chaos, CHAOS, and chãos

Translingual

Etymology

From Latin chaos (“chaos”), from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

Proper noun

Chaos n

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Amoebidae – several very large amoebae.
2. (astronomy) A planetoid and cubewano orbiting in the Kuiper belt.

   Synonym: 19521 Chaos

Hypernyms

• (genus): Eukaryota - superkingdom; Protozoa - kingdom; Sarcomastigota - subkingdom; Amoebozoa - phylum; Protamoebae - subphylum; Lobosea - class; Euamoebida - order; Amoebidae - family

Further reading

• Chaos (genus) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Chaos on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Chaos (genus) on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• 19521 Chaos on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Latin chaos (“chaos”), from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

Proper noun

Chaos

1. (Greek mythology) In Greek mythology, the primordial state of disorder that exists before the creation of the world, or the first being or deity to exist.
2. (astronomy) A planetoid and cubewano orbiting in the Kuiper belt.

   Synonym: 19521 Chaos

3. (fantasy, science fiction) In the Warhammer franchise, a demonic antagonist that sends demons, monsters, warriors, and beasts to wage war on the games' setting.

   Chaos warrior, Chaos daemon

Derived terms

• primordial chaos

Translations

Warhamer antagonist

• Russian: ха́ос (ru) m (xáos), хао́с (ru) m (xaós)

German

Etymology

From Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos). Cognate with English chaos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkaːɔs]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Cha‧os
• Rhymes: -aːɔs

Noun

Chaos n (strong, genitive Chaos, no plural)

1. chaos

Declension

Declension of Chaos [sg-only, neuter, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Chaos
genitive	eines	des	Chaos
dative	einem	dem	Chaos
accusative	ein	das	Chaos

Derived terms

Derived terms

• Chaosforschung
• Chaostheorie
• Chaot
• chaotisch

Further reading

• “Chaos” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Chaos” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Chaos” in Duden online
• Chaos on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

Latin

Alternative forms

• chaos

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰa.os/, [ˈkʰäɔs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.os/, [ˈkäːos]

Proper noun

Chaos n sg (genitive Chaī); second declension

1. the shapeless primordial universe
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.5–9:

     Ante mare et terrās et quod tegit omnia caelum
     ūnus erat tōtō nātūrae vultus in orbe,
     quem dīxēre chaos: rudis indīgestaque mōlēs
     nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eōdem
     nōn bene iūnctārum discordia sēmina rērum.

     Before the sea and the lands and the sky that covers over all things,
     there was one face of nature in the whole world,
     which they called chaos: a raw and unorganized mass,
     and nothing if not an inert weight and, gathered in the same place,
     the discordant seeds of things not well joined together.

2. the Underworld, Hell

Usage notes

• The plural is a rare and very late development.

Examples.

• 1838, Franz Bernhard von Bucholtz, Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinand des Ersten, aus gedruckten und ungedruckten Quellen, page 282:

  Testor Deum Quod causam ignoro, ob quam Mag. Do. vra (quandoquidem ipsi familiares mei more fidelium Chaorum fidelitatem Mis Regiae […] . Licet, quod inimici mei Mag. Dominationi vrae dolose interpretati sunt, qualiter ego more paganismico in regnum Chaorum et in regiam Mm Inimicum ad inferendum properassem.

  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• 1878, Ludwig Dindorff, Karl Müller, Diodori Siculi bibliothecae quae supersunt ex nova recensione, volume 2, page 604:

  Graeci Phasin fluvium transgress per Chaorum, Phasianorum, Chaldaeorum etc. regiones in Chenium montem evadunt unde ingenti gaudio mare prospiciunt.

  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• 1904, Giacomo Tropea, Rivista di storia antica, page 607:

  In paragrapho prima Diodorus de Graecorum adventu in Chaorum terras tradit: […] Ipse Dindorfius in latina versione Xenophontis scribit "Chaorum" atque inter uncos "Thaochorum".

  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type, nominative/accusative/vocative in -os), singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Chaos
Genitive	Chaī
Dative	Chaō
Accusative	Chaos
Ablative	Chaō
Vocative	Chaos

A genitive plural Chaōrum appears only in very Late to Modern Latin.

Descendants

• Italian: caosse, cao, caos
• Piedmontese: càos
• Spanish: caos

References

• “Chăŏs or Chăus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• chăŏs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 298/3.
• “chaos” on page 309/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)