θέμις: Difference between revisions

{{etym

|etymtx=Grammatical information: f. (n.)<br />Meaning: [[justice]], [[law]], [[custom]], also personied as goddess of justice (Il.).<br />Other forms: Diff. oblique forms: gen. <b class="b3">θέμιστος</b> (β 68; Thess. inscr.), dat. <b class="b3">-ιστι</b> (Ο 87; Thess. inscr.), acc. <b class="b3">-ιστα</b> (Ε 761, Υ 4); <b class="b3">θέμιδος</b> (A. Pr. 18), <b class="b3">θέμιτος</b> (Pi. O. 13, 8 ); rarely also <b class="b3">θέμιος</b> (Hdt. 2, 50; v. l. <b class="b3">-ιδος</b>), <b class="b3">θέμεως</b> (inscr. Metropolis); acc. <b class="b3">θέμιν</b> (Hes.), voc. <b class="b3">Θέμι</b> (Ο 93). Plur. <b class="b3">θέμιστες</b>, acc. <b class="b3">-ιστας</b> etc. <b class="b2">statutes, (divine) laws, oracles</b> (Hom., Hes., Thgn., Pi.).<br />Dialectal forms: Myc. [[temi]], gen. [[timito]]; cf. Ruipérez Minos 5, 176f., 181ff.<br />Compounds: As 1. member e. g. in <b class="b3">θεμι-σκόπος</b> <b class="b2">preserving justice</b> (Pi.), <b class="b3">θεμισ-κρέων</b> <b class="b2">ruling through justice</b> (Pi.), <b class="b3">θεμιστο-πόλος</b> <b class="b2">supporting the laws, obeying the oracles</b> (h. Cer. 103, inscr. Delphi IIIa); . As 2. member e. g. in <b class="b3">ἄ-θεμις</b> [[lawless]], [[unlawful]] (Pi., E.), <b class="b3">ἀ-θέμιτος</b> <b class="b2">id.</b> (Hdt.), <b class="b3">ἀ-θέμιστος</b> <b class="b2">id.</b> (Il.), also <b class="b3">ἀ-θεμίστιος</b> (Od.; metr. by-form).<br />Derivatives: <b class="b3">θεμιστός</b> (A. Th. 694 [lyr.]; after <b class="b3">ἀ-θέμιστος</b>); <b class="b3">θεμιτός</b> in <b class="b3">οὑ θεμιτόν</b> = <b class="b3">οὑ θέμις</b> (IA); <b class="b3">Θεμίστιος</b> surname of Zeus <b class="b2">Lord of the θέμιστες</b> (Plu.); also month name (Thessaly); <b class="b3">θεμιστεῖος</b> <b class="b2">regarding the θ.</b> (Pi.); <b class="b3">θεμιστοσύναι</b> = <b class="b3">θέμιστες</b> (Orph. H. 79, 6). Denomin. verbs: 1. <b class="b3">θεμιστεύω</b> <b class="b2">proclaim the θέμ., i. e. laws, oracles</b> (Od.) with <b class="b3">θεμιστεία</b> <b class="b2">giving oracles</b> (Str.). 2. <b class="b3">θεμιτεύω</b> <b class="b2">behave lawful</b> (E. Ba. 79 [lyr.]). 3. <b class="b3">θεμιζέτω μαστιγούτω</b>, <b class="b3">νομοθετείτω</b>. <b class="b3">Κρῆτες</b> H.; after Bechtel Dial. 2, 786 to be changed in <b class="b3">θεμισσέτω</b> (= Paus. Gr. Fr. 202); aor. ptc. <b class="b3">θεμισσάμενος</b> (Pi.). - Several PN, z. B. <b class="b3">Θεμιστο-κλῆς</b> (s. on <b class="b3">θέμερος</b>)<br />Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]<br />Etymology: To <b class="b3">θέμις</b> seems to agree Av. <b class="b2">dā-mi-</b> f. [[creation]], also [[creator]] (m. a. f.); cf. the same diff. between <b class="b3">θέ-σις</b>, <b class="b3">-θε-τος</b> as opposed to <b class="b2">-dā-ti-</b> , <b class="b2">dā-ta-</b> [[basis]], [[justice]], [[law]] (= <b class="b3">θέμις</b>). A problem is formed by the remarkable plural-formations <b class="b3">θέμι-στ-ες</b>, <b class="b3">θέμι-στ-ος</b> etc.; the explanation by Schulze (also Fraenkel Glotta 4, 22ff.) as a compound <b class="b3">θεμι-</b> and <b class="b3">στα-</b> [[stand]], gives almost unsurmountable difficulties ; s. Frisk Eranos 48, 1ff. The occasional neutral genus acc. to Fraenkel from synonymous expressions like <b class="b3">δέον</b>, <b class="b3">καλόν</b>, <b class="b3">προσῆκον</b> (possible, but rather inherited from the Pre-Greek origin). - On the meaning of <b class="b3">θέμις</b> H. Vos Themis. Diss. Univ. Rheno-Traj. 1956. - Ruijgh convinced me (pers. comm.) that the strange inflection points to a Pre-Greek word.

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