θάμβος

See also: θαμβός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Uncertain. Often connected to such forms as θαῦμα (thaûma, “wonder, marvel”), θώψ (thṓps, “flatterer, false friend”), τάφος (táphos, “amazement”) and τέθηπα (téthēpa, “to be astonished”). Beekes rejects additional connections to Proto-Germanic *dōbnaną (“to become dull”), Middle English dabben (“to strike”), and German tappen (“to frisk”), and claims all the Greek terms are borrowed from non-Indo-European Pre-Greek.^[1] The philologist Oswald Szemerényi has suggested a possible connection to *dʰembʰ-, itself possibly a nasalized variant of *dʰebʰ- (“to harm”), whence also perhaps Sanskrit द॒भ्नोति॑ (dabhnóti, “to harm, deceive”). According to the linguist Bilyana Mihaylova, this proposal is convincing semantically—compare Ancient Greek ἐκπλήσσω (ekplḗssō, “to strike, frighten”) for a possible parallel example of a development from "to strike" > "to frighten". However, according to Mihaylova, this proposal faces "serious phonetic difficulties".^[2] The phonological issues concerning this term are linked to the issue of post-nasal deaspiration in Ancient Greek (see Miller's Law). According to the linguist Roberto Batisti, if such deaspiration is accepted, then the term could be derived from a neuter s-stem *dʰembʰ-es-.^[3]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tʰám.bos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰam.bos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈθam.bos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈθam.bos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈθam.bos/

Noun

θᾰ́μβος • (thắmbos) n (genitive θᾰ́μβεος or θᾰ́μβους or θᾰ́μβευς); third declension

amazement, astonishment
awe of the divine

Declension

Third declension of τὸ θᾰ́μβος; τοῦ θᾰ́μβους (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ θᾰ́μβος tò thắmbos	τὼ θᾰ́μβει tṑ thắmbei	τᾰ̀ θᾰ́μβη tằ thắmbē
Genitive	τοῦ θᾰ́μβους toû thắmbous	τοῖν θᾰμβοῖν toîn thămboîn	τῶν θᾰμβῶν tôn thămbôn
Dative	τῷ θᾰ́μβει tōî thắmbei	τοῖν θᾰμβοῖν toîn thămboîn	τοῖς θᾰ́μβεσῐ / θᾰ́μβεσῐν toîs thắmbesĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸ θᾰ́μβος tò thắmbos	τὼ θᾰ́μβει tṑ thắmbei	τᾰ̀ θᾰ́μβη tằ thắmbē
Vocative	θᾰ́μβος thắmbos	θᾰ́μβει thắmbei	θᾰ́μβη thắmbē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of θᾰ́μβος; θᾰ́μβεος / θᾰ́μβευς (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θᾰ́μβος thắmbos	θᾰ́μβεε / θᾰ́μβει thắmbee / thắmbei	θᾰ́μβεᾰ thắmbeă
Genitive	θᾰ́μβεος / θᾰ́μβευς thắmbeos / thắmbeus	θᾰμβέοιῐ̈ν thămbéoiĭ̈n	θᾰμβέων thămbéōn
Dative	θᾰ́μβεῐ̈ / θᾰ́μβει thắmbeĭ̈ / thắmbei	θᾰμβέοιῐ̈ν thămbéoiĭ̈n	θᾰ́μβεσῐ / θᾰ́μβεσῐν / θᾰ́μβεσσῐ / θᾰ́μβεσσῐν / θᾰμβέεσσῐ / θᾰμβέεσσῐν thắmbesĭ(n) / thắmbessĭ(n) / thămbéessĭ(n)
Accusative	θᾰ́μβος thắmbos	θᾰ́μβεε / θᾰ́μβει thắmbee / thắmbei	θᾰ́μβεᾰ thắmbeă
Vocative	θᾰ́μβος thắmbos	θᾰ́μβεε / θᾰ́μβει thắmbee / thắmbei	θᾰ́μβεᾰ thắmbeă
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

ἀθαμβής (athambḗs)
ἀθαμβία (athambía)
ἄθαμβος (áthambos)
ἕκθαμβος (hékthambos)
θαμβαίνω (thambaínō)
θαμβαλέος (thambaléos)
θαμβευτής (thambeutḗs)
θαμβεύω (thambeúō)
θαμβέω (thambéō)
θάμβημα (thámbēma)
θάμβησις (thámbēsis)
θαμβήτειρα (thambḗteira)
θαμβητός (thambētós)
θαμβόομαι (thambóomai)
θαμβός (thambós)

Descendants

Byzantine Greek: θαμβός (thambós, “astonished”)
- Greek: θαμπός (thampós)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “θάμβος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 532
^ Mihaylova, Bilyana (2024), “The Words for Fear in Ancient Greek from an Etymological Perspective”, in Балканско езикознание / Linguistique balkanique‎^[1], volume 63, number 1, →ISSN, pages 10-11
^ Batisti, Roberto (2025), Post-Nasal Deaspiration in Ancient Greek: Mirage or Reality?‎^[2], →DOI, →ISBN, page 1

“θάμβος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“θάμβος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“θάμβος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
θάμβος in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
θάμβος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
“θάμβος”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G2285 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[3], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- amazement idem, page 26.
- astonishment idem, page 48.
- marvel idem, page 515.
- stupefaction idem, page 829.
- stupor idem, page 830.
- surprise idem, page 844.
- wonder idem, page 987.
θάμβος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011
Beekes, Robert S.P. (1969), The Development of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Greek, The Hague–Paris: Mouton, →ISBN, pages 177-178

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “θάμβος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 532

[2] Mihaylova, Bilyana (2024), “The Words for Fear in Ancient Greek from an Etymological Perspective”, in Балканско езикознание / Linguistique balkanique‎^[1], volume 63, number 1, →ISSN, pages 10-11

[3] Batisti, Roberto (2025), Post-Nasal Deaspiration in Ancient Greek: Mirage or Reality?‎^[2], →DOI, →ISBN, page 1

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