σῆμα
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Translation (En)
"in fact I once heard sages say that we are now dead, and the body is our tomb" (Lamb's translation)
Parallels
With σῆμα "tomb": Plato, Cratylus 400b-c (καὶ γὰρ σῆμά τινές φασιν αὐτὸ εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς τεθαμμένης ἐν τῷ νῦν παρόντι); Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, sigma 22 (σῶμα παρὰ τὸ σῆμα, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν τάφον, κατὰ τὸν Πλάτωνα); Etym. Gudianum, sigma, p. 519 (idem); Joannes Mauropus, Etymologica nominum 142 (τὸ σῶμα δ’ αὐτῆς [i.e. ψυχῆς] σῆμα, πρὸ τάφου τάφος); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 742 (Σῶμα: Οἱονεὶ δῶμα ὂν τῆς ψυχῆς· ὅθεν καὶ σκήνωμα πᾶν τὸ τεθνηκός. Εἴρηται δὲ σῶμα, ὥς φησι Πλάτων, ὅτι σῆμα ἐστὶ, τουτέστι τάφος τῆς ψυχῆς· δίκην γὰρ τάφου ἐντέθαπται ἡ ψυχὴ τῷ σώματι. Ἢ σώαιμα, σῶον αἷμα. Ἐν τῷ αἷμα)
The etymology is implicit in Philo Judaeus, Legum allegoriarum libri i-iii, 1.108 (ὡς νῦν μέν, ὅτε ζῶμεν, τεθνηκυίας τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ὡς ἂν ἐν σήματι τῷ σώματι ἐντετυμβευμένης)
With σῆμα "sign": Scholia in Euripidem, Hecuba 368 (ὁ δὲ Ὅμηρος τὸ μὲν δέμας ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐμψύχου ἀπὸ τοῦ συνδεδέσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ, τὸ δὲ σῶμα ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀψύχου οἱονεὶ σῆμά τι ὂν τοῦ ποτε ζῶντος); Scholia in Oppianum, Hal. 1.576 (δέμας μὲν τὸ ζῶν σῶμα παρὰ τὸ δεδεμένον εἶναι τῇ ψυχῇ, σῶμα δὲ παρὰ τὸ σῆμα καὶ μνημεῖον εἶναι τοῦ ποτε ζῶντος)
Comment
It is not clear in the Gorgias whether Plato takes this as an etymology or only a pun. In the Cratylus (400c), Plato definitely presents it as an etymology, and it is repeated as an etymology in many etymological works afterwards. It relies on the alternation between ē and ō which is a variant of the well known alternation between e and o, with which Greek learned people were familiar. The conception is older than Plato, usually ascribed to the Orphic tradition (Plato, Cratylus 400c) or to Pythagoras (Clemens Alexandr., Stromatae 3, 17, 1: λέγει γὰρ ὁ Πυθαγόρειος ὧδε· «μαρτυρέονται δὲ καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ θεολόγοι τε καὶ μάντιες, ὡς διά τινας τιμωρίας ἁ ψυχὰ τῷ σώματι συνέζευκται καὶ καθάπερ ἐν σήματι τούτῳ τέθαπται, = Philolaus, fr. 14: μαρτυρέονται δὲ καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ θεολόγοι τε καὶ μάντιες, ὡς διά τινας τιμωρίας ἁ ψυχὰ τῶι σώματι συνέζευκται καὶ καθάπερ ἐν σάματι τούτωι τέθαπται).
Starting from that etymology, some take σῆμα in a different meaning, as an equivalent for σήμειον "sign, symbol" (see Parallels)