κῶμος

Ancient Greek

Komos scene.

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. Dunkel (apud LIV) derives from Proto-Indo-European *ḱómso-, from *ḱems- (“to announce, proclaim”), whence Sanskrit शंसति (śaṃsati, “to declare”), Proto-Iranian *cánhati (“to declare, explain”), Latin cēnseō (“to give an opinion”).

On the other hand, Janda (apud LIV) derives from Proto-Indo-European *kóh₂-mo-, from *keh₂- (“to desire, wish”), whence Sanskrit काम (kā́ma, “desire, wish”), Latin cārus (“dear”).

Beekes remarks that, since the precise development of the meaning of κῶμος (kômos) is uncertain, etymological suggestions remain highly hypothetical. He suggests that this is a Pre-Greek word, though does not discount the possibility of derivation from *ḱómso-.^[1]

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̂ː.mos/ → /ˈko.mos/ → /ˈko.mos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kɔ̂ː.mos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈko.mos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈko.mos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈko.mos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈko.mos/

Noun

κῶμος • (kômos) m (genitive κώμου); second declension

1. festival, procession, revel, carousal
2. the band of revellers of such an event
3. a song or ode sung at such an event

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κῶμος ho kômos	τὼ κώμω tṑ kṓmō	οἱ κῶμοι hoi kômoi
Genitive	τοῦ κώμου toû kṓmou	τοῖν κώμοιν toîn kṓmoin	τῶν κώμων tôn kṓmōn
Dative	τῷ κώμῳ tôi kṓmōi	τοῖν κώμοιν toîn kṓmoin	τοῖς κώμοις toîs kṓmois
Accusative	τὸν κῶμον tòn kômon	τὼ κώμω tṑ kṓmō	τοὺς κώμους toùs kṓmous
Vocative	κῶμε kôme	κώμω kṓmō	κῶμοι kômoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of ὁ κῶμος; τοῦ κώμου (Attic)

Derived terms

• κωμάζω (kōmázō)
• κωμῳδία (kōmōidía)

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κῶμος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 814

Further reading

• “κῶμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • band idem, page 60.
  • carousal idem, page 114.
  • conviviallty idem, page 173.
  • debauch idem, page 199.
  • dissipation idem, page 240.
  • flock idem, page 328.
  • hilarity idem, page 400.
  • jollity idem, page 464.
  • merriment idem, page 526.
  • merry-making idem, page 526.
  • mirth idem, page 532.
  • orgies idem, page 579.
  • ovation idem, page 584.
  • reveller idem, page 709.
  • revelry idem, page 709.
  • riot idem, page 716.
  • roisteing idem, page 720.
  • roisterer idem, page 720.
  • rout idem, page 723.
• κῶμος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “κῶμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κῶμος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2970 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• 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
• Rix, Helmut, editor (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben [Lexicon of Indo-European Verbs] (in German), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, →ISBN, pages 326–343