αἷμα

Uncertain and contested, as many competing theories exist. One possibility is from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂y- (traditionally *say-) (“thick or viscous liquid”), related to Proto-West Germanic *saim (whence German Seim (“viscous fluid”)),^[1][2][3][4] although some sources reject this as phonologically improbable.^[1][2] A different theory relates it to Proto-Indo-European *s(w)okʷós (“plant juice, resin”), which would make it related to ὀπός (opós, “plant juice”).^[5] Other suggestions include a relation to Ancient Greek αἰονάω (aionáō, “to moisten”)^[2] or to Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to throw, to flow”), thereby making it a doublet of ἧμᾰ (hêmă, “projectile”).^[6] Finally, a Northwest Semitic borrowing has been posited, related to Aramaic חַיִּים (ḥayyim, “life”), Hebrew חַיִּים (ḥayím, “life”), Phoenician 𐤇𐤉𐤌 (ḥym, “long life”).^[7]

αἷμᾰ • (haîmă) n (genitive αἵμᾰτος); third declension

1. blood
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.303:

     αἶψά τοι αἷμα κελαινὸν ἐρωήσει περὶ δουρί.

     aîpsá toi haîma kelainòn erōḗsei perì dourí.

     Right away your dark blood will pour out around my spear.

   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.140:

     αὐτίκα δʼ ἔρρεεν αἷμα κελαινεφὲς ἐξ ὠτειλῆς.

     autíka d’ érrheen haîma kelainephès ex ōteilês.

     At once dark-clouded blood flowed from the wound.

   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.397:

     ἐξέρυσʼ ὀφθαλμοῖο πεφυρμένον αἵματι πολλῷ.

     exérus’ ophthalmoîo pephurménon haímati pollōî.

     He drew it from his eye, stained with much blood.

2. (in the plural) streams of blood
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1293:

     αἱμάτων εὐθνησίμων ἀπορρυέντων

     haimátōn euthnēsímōn aporrhuéntōn

     with death-dealing streams of blood flowing away

   • 438 BCE, Euripides, Alcestis 496:

     φάτνας ἴδοις ἂν αἵμασιν πεφυρμένας

     phátnas ídois àn haímasin pephurménas

     you would see the stalls stained with blood

   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 121:

     πρίν ποθ’ ἁμετέρων αἱμάτων γένυσιν πλησθῆναι

     prín poth’ hametérōn haimátōn génusin plēsthênai

     before its jaws were filled with our blood

3. bloodshed; murder
   • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Choephori 520:

     τὰ δῶρα μείω δ’ ἐστὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας· τὰ πάντα γάρ τις ἐκχέας ἀνθ’ αἵματος ἑνός, μάτην ὁ μόχθος. ὧδ’ ἔχει λόγος.

     tà dôra meíō d’ estì tês hamartías; tà pánta gár tis ekkhéas anth’ haímatos henós, mátēn ho mókhthos. hôd’ ékhei lógos.

     Gifts are weaker than the crime; for even if one should pour out everything in exchange for a single murder, the effort is in vain—so the saying goes.

   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus Rex 101:

     Κρ. ἀνδρηλατοῦντας, ἢ φόνῳ φόνον πάλιν λύοντας, ὡς τόδ’ αἷμα χειμάζον πόλιν.

     Kr. andrēlatoûntas, ḕ phónōi phónon pálin lúontas, hōs tód’ haîma kheimázon pólin.

     CREON: Driving out the guilty, or repaying murder with murder again, since this bloodshed is battering the city.

4. race; stock; kin, relationship by blood
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 8.583:

     κήδιστοι τελέθουσι μεθ’ αἷμά τε καὶ γένος αὐτῶν.

     kḗdistoi teléthousi meth’ haîmá te kaì génos autôn.

     They are connected as kin, sharing both blood and lineage.

   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.611:

     αἵματός εἰς ἀγαθοῖο, φίλον τέκος, οἷ’ ἀγορεύεις·

     haímatós eis agathoîo, phílon tékos, hoî’ agoreúeis;

     “Being of good blood, dear child, you speak as you do.”

   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 19.111:

     τῶν ἀνδρῶν οἳ σῆς ἐξ αἵματός εἰσι γενέθλης.

     tôn andrôn hoì sês ex haímatós eisi genéthlēs.

     Of the men who are born from your blood.

• ἔαρ (éar) (Homeric)

• Byzantine Greek: αἷμα (haîma), αἷμαν (haîman), αἷμας (haîmas), γαῖμα (gaîma)
  • Greek: αίμα (aíma), γαίμα (gaíma)
  • Italiot Greek: jèma
  • Mariupol Greek: е́ма (jéma)
  • Pontic Greek: γαίμα (gaíma)
• → Bulgarian: -емия (-emija)
• → Catalan: -èmia
• → Danish: -æmi
• → German: hämato-, hämat-, -hämie, -ämie
• → English: haemato-, haema-, -aemia, haemal
• → Spanish: -emia
• → French: -émie
• → Irish: -éime
• → Galician: -emia, hemato-, hemo-
• → Italian: -emia
• → Dutch: -emie
• → Polish: hemato-, -emia (learned)
• → Russian: гемо- (gemo-), гемато- (gemato-), -емия (-emija)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: -емија

  Latin script: -emija

• “αἷμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “αἷμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “αἷμα”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• αἷμα in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “αἷμα”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G129 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• αἷμα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • blood idem, page 84.
  • gore idem, page 367.
  • life blood idem, page 489.
• αἷμα - Kriaras, Emmanuel (1969-), Επιτομή του Λεξικού της Μεσαιωνικής Ελληνικής Δημώδους Γραμματείας (Epitomí tou Lexikoú tis Mesaionikís Ellinikís Dimódous Grammateías) [Concise Dictionary of the Kriaras' Dictionary of Medieval Vulgar Greek Literature (1100–1669) Vols. 1–14. Vols 15- under I. Kazazes.] (in Greek), Thessaloniki: Centre for the Greek language Online edition (abbreviations) Printed edition 2022: 22 vols.
• αἷμα, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011