θύμον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally taken as a derivative in -μο- (-mo-) from θύω (thúō, “to smoke”), though Beekes is skeptical of this theory and notes that "[a]s a local plant name, the word is liable to be of Pre-Greek origin".^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tʰý.mon/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰy.mon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈθy.mon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈθy.mon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈθi.mon/

Noun

θύμον • (thúmon) n (genitive θύμου); second declension

thyme (plant of the genus Thymus)

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ θῠ́μον; τοῦ θῠ́μου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ θῠ́μον tò thŭ́mon	τὼ θῠ́μω tṑ thŭ́mō	τᾰ̀ θῠ́μᾰ tằ thŭ́mă
Genitive	τοῦ θῠ́μου toû thŭ́mou	τοῖν θῠ́μοιν toîn thŭ́moin	τῶν θῠ́μων tôn thŭ́mōn
Dative	τῷ θῠ́μῳ tōî thŭ́mōi	τοῖν θῠ́μοιν toîn thŭ́moin	τοῖς θῠ́μοις toîs thŭ́mois
Accusative	τὸ θῠ́μον tò thŭ́mon	τὼ θῠ́μω tṑ thŭ́mō	τᾰ̀ θῠ́μᾰ tằ thŭ́mă
Vocative	θῠ́μον thŭ́mon	θῠ́μω thŭ́mō	θῠ́μᾰ thŭ́mă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἐπίθυμον (epíthumon)
θυμελαία (thumelaía)
θυμίζω (thumízō)
θύμινον (thúminon)
θύμιον (thúmion)
θυμίτης (thumítēs)
θυμόεις (thumóeis)
θυμοξάλμη (thumoxálmē)
θυμώδης (thumṓdēs)

Descendants

→ Greek: θυμάρι (thymári)
→ Latin: thymum

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “θύμον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 563-4
^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “thyme”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.