μίασμα

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 18 October 2012

Etymology

From μιαίνω (miaínō, “to stain”) +‎ -μα (-ma).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mí.az.ma/ → /ˈmi.az.ma/ → /ˈmi.az.ma/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mí.az.ma/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.az.ma/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.az.ma/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.az.ma/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.az.ma/

Noun

μῐ́ασμᾰ • (míasma) n (genitive μῐάσμᾰτος); third declension

1. pollution, defilement
   • c. 2nd century bc, The Book of Judith, 9:4

     οἳ καὶ ἐζήλωσαν τὸν ζῆλόν σου καὶ ἐβδελύξαντο μίασμα αἵματος αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπεκαλέσαντό σε εἰς βοηθόν.

     hoì kaì ezḗlōsan tòn zêlón sou kaì ebdelúxanto míasma haímatos autôn kaì epekalésantó se eis boēthón.

     And they were moved with thy zeal, and abhorred the pollution of their blood, and called upon thee for aid.

2. shameful action, crime

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ μῐ́ασμᾰ; τοῦ μῐάσμᾰτος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ μῐ́ασμᾰ tò míasma	τὼ μῐάσμᾰτε tṑ miásmate	τᾰ̀ μῐάσμᾰτᾰ tà miásmata
Genitive	τοῦ μῐάσμᾰτος toû miásmatos	τοῖν μῐασμᾰ́τοιν toîn miasmátoin	τῶν μῐασμᾰ́των tôn miasmátōn
Dative	τῷ μῐάσμᾰτῐ tôi miásmati	τοῖν μῐασμᾰ́τοιν toîn miasmátoin	τοῖς μῐάσμᾰσῐ / μῐάσμᾰσῐν toîs miásmasi(n)
Accusative	τὸ μῐ́ασμᾰ tò míasma	τὼ μῐάσμᾰτε tṑ miásmate	τᾰ̀ μῐάσμᾰτᾰ tà miásmata
Vocative	μῐ́ασμᾰ míasma	μῐάσμᾰτε miásmate	μῐάσμᾰτᾰ miásmata
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

• → English: miasma
• → French: miasme
  • → Romanian: miasmă
• → Italian: miasma
• → Portuguese: miasma
• → Russian: миазмы (miazmy)
• → Spanish: miasma

Further reading

• “μίασμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μίασμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μίασμα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• G3392 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • abomination idem, page 2.
  • blood-guiltiness idem, page 84.
  • contagion idem, page 166.
  • contamination idem, page 166.
  • curse idem, page 191.
  • desecration idem, page 215.
  • guilt idem, page 378.
  • infection idem, page 437.
  • miasma idem, page 527.
  • plague-spot idem, page 616.
  • pollution idem, page 625.
  • stain idem, page 809.
  • taint idem, page 852.
  • uncleanness idem, page 909.