# χάος
## Ancient Greek
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kʰá.os/ → /ˈxa.os/ → /ˈxa.os/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /kʰá.os/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈkʰa.os/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈxa.os/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈxa.os/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈxa.os/

### Etymology 1

Likely related to χαῦνος (khaûnos, “porous, loose-grained”) (via an earlier form χάος (kháos) < *χάϝος (*kháwos)), with original meaning "hole, empty space, yawning opening"; from this spring the traditional connections with χάσκω (kháskō, “I gape, yawn”), χήμη (khḗmē, “gaping; clam”). If so, then likely from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₂- (“to yawn, gape”); cognates thus include Proto-Germanic *gōmô (“gum, palate”) and Lithuanian gomurỹs (“palate”) (< *gʰéh₂mr̥/n-). The Germanic and Baltic terms probably originally referred to "mouth" before shifting to "palate".
An alternative theory by Furnee connects the word with Proto-Georgian-Zan *qew- (“ravine”).
The oft-compared χώρα (khṓra, “open space, place”) is likely not related.

#### Noun

χᾰ́ος • (kháos) n (genitive χᾰ́εος or χᾰ́ους); third declension (singular only, uncountable)
* chaos, the primordial state of existence
* space, air
* abyss, chasm
* infinite darkness

##### Declension

Normally, only in singular; but χάη occasionally found.

##### Descendants

* Greek: χάος (cháos)
* → English: chaos
* → Armenian: քաոս (kʻaos)
* → Danish: kaos
* → Dutch: gas
* → Georgian: ქაოსი (kaosi)
* → Latin: chaos
** French: chaos
** Italian: caos, caosse, cao
** Portuguese: caos
** Romanian: haos, caos
** Spanish: caos
* → Russian: ха́о́с (xáós)
* → Old Ruthenian: хаосъ (xaos)
** Belarusian: хао́с (xaós)
** Carpathian Rusyn: ха́ос (xáos)
** Ukrainian: ха́о́с (xáós)
* → Norwegian: kaos
* → Danish: kaos
* → Polish: chaos
* → Swedish: kaos
* → Finnish: kaaos
* → Japanese: カオス
* → Turkish: kaos

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Adjective

χᾰ́ος • (kháos) m or f (neuter χᾰ́ον); second declension
* Alternative spelling of χάϊος (kháïos, “genuine, true”)

##### Declension
### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χάος, έος, όυς”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1614
* ↑ Furnée, Edzard Johan (1979) Vorgriechisch-Kartvelisches: Studien zum ostmediterranen Substrat nebst einem Versuch zu einer neuen pelasgischen Theorie (in German), Editions Peeters, →ISBN, page 34

### Further reading

* “χάος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “χάος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* χάος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,006

## Greek
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos). For sense disorder, mess, semantic loan from French chaos (in that sense) from Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈxa.os/
* Hyphenation: χά‧ος

### Noun

χάος • (cháos) n
* (singular only) chaos
* (singular only, figuratively) disorder, mess
* (singular only, mathematics) chaos

#### Usage notes

* Normally, there is no plural: no τα χάη (ta chái, “the chaoses”) outside of poetry.
** Kostas Karyotakis, poem «Φύγε, η καρδιά μου νοσταλγεί» ("Go, my heart is nostalgic") from collection Ελεγεία και Σάτιρες (Elegia and Satires), published in 1927. (Greek text)
    Φύγε κι ἄσε με μοναχό, ποὺ βλέπω νὰ πληθαίνη ἀπάνω ἡ νύχτα, καὶ βαθιὰ νὰ γίνωνται τὰ χάη.Fýge ki áse me monachó, pou vlépo na plithaíni apáno i nýchta, kai vathiá na gínontai ta chái.Go and leave me alone looking at the growing night upon [me], and the deepening chaoses.

#### Declension

| case  \  number | singular |
| nominative | χάος • |
| genitive | χάους • |
| accusative | χάος • |
| vocative | χάος • |
| Plural χάη, as in literature. ||

#### Synonyms

* (disorder, chaos): ακαταστασία f (akatastasía)

#### Derived terms

* η θεωρία του χάους (i theoría tou cháous, “the chaos theory”) (mathematics)
* χαοτικός (chaotikós, “chaotic”)

### References

* ↑ χάος, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language
* ↑ χάη in greek poetry at greek-language.gr retr:2018.09.24.

### Further reading

* χάος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{el}$