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Chaos (Greek , ''khaos'') refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, or to the initial "gap" created by the original separation of heaven and earth. ==Terminology== Greek means "emptiness, vast void, chasm, abyss", from the verb , "gape, be wide open, etc.", from Proto-Indo-European ',〔R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 1614 and 1616–7.〕 cognate to Old English ''geanian'', "to gape", whence English ''yawn''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=chaos&allowed_in_frame=0 )〕 It may also mean space, the expanse of air, and the nether abyss, infinite darkness.〔Lidell-Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon''(chaos )〕 Pherecydes of Syros (fl. 6th century BC) interpretes ''chaos'' as water, like something formless which can be differentiated. Hesiod and the Pre-Socratics use the Greek term in the context of cosmogony. Hesiod's "chaos" has been interpreted as a moving, formless mass from which the cosmos and the gods originated. In Hesiod's opinion the origin should be indefinite and indeterminate, and it represents disorder and darkness.〔O. Gigon (1968) ''Der Umsprung der Griechishe Philosophie. Von Hesiod bis Parmenides''. Bale. Stutgart, Schwabe & Co. p29〕〔(The Theogony of Hesiod ) Transl.H.G.Evelyn White (736-744)〕 ''Chaos'' has been linked with the term ''tohu wa-bohu'' of Genesis 1:2 . The term may refer to a state of non-being prior to creation〔Tsumura, D., ''(Creation and Destruction. A Reappraisal of the Chaoskampf Theory in the Old Testament )'', Winona Lake/IN, 1989, 2nd ed. 2005, ISBN 978-1-57506-106-1.〕〔C. Westermann, ''Genesis, Kapitel 1-11'', (BKAT I/1), Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1974, 3rd ed. 1983.〕 or to a formless state. In the Book of Genesis, the spirit of God is moving upon the face of the waters, and the earliest state of the universe is like a "watery chaos".〔 pp. 59, 60, 83 ISBN 0-521-29420-7〕〔''Genesis 1:2, English translation (New International Version)''(2011): (BibleGateway.com ) Biblica incorporation〕 The Septuagint makes no use of in the context of creation, instead using the term for , "chasm, cleft", in Micha 1:6 and Zacharia 14:4. Of the certain uses of the word ''chaos'' in Theogony, in the creation the word is referring to a "gaping void" which gives birth to the sky, but later the word is referring to the gap between the earth and the sky, after their separation. A parallel can be found in the Genesis. In the beginning God creates the earth and the sky. The earth is "formless and void" (''tohu wa-bohu''), and later God divides the waters under the firmament from the waters over the firmament, and calls the firmament "heaven".〔 Nevertheless, the term ''chaos'' has been adopted in religious studies as referring to the primordial state before creation, strictly combining two separate notions of primordial waters or a primordial darkness from which a new order emerges and a primordial state as a merging of opposites, such as heaven and earth, which must be separated by a creator deity in an act of cosmogony.〔Mircea Eliade, article "Chaos" in ''Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', 3rd ed. vol. 1, Tübingen, 1957, 1640f.〕 In both cases, chaos referring to a notion of a primordial state contains the cosmos ''in potentia'' but needs to be formed by a demiurge before the world can begin its existence. This model of a primordial state of matter has been opposed by the Church Fathers from the 2nd century, who posited a creation ''ex nihilo'' by an omnipotent God.〔Gerhard May, ''(Schöpfung aus dem Nichts. Die Entstehung der Lehre von der creatio ex nihilo )'', AKG 48, Berlin / New York, 1978, 151f.〕 In modern biblical studies, the term ''chaos'' is commonly used in the context of the Torah and their cognate narratives in Ancient Near Eastern mythology more generally. Parallels between the Hebrew Genesis and the Babylonian Enuma Elish were established by Hermann Gunkel in 1910.〔H. Gunkel, ''Genesis'', HKAT I.1, Göttingen, 1910.〕 Besides Genesis, other books of the Old Testament, especially a number of Psalms, some passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah and the Book of Job are relevant.〔Michaela Bauks, (Chaos / Chaoskampf ), WiBiLex – Das Bibellexikon (2006).〕〔Michaela Bauks, ''Die Welt am Anfang. Zum Verhältnis von Vorwelt und Weltentstehung in Gen 1 und in der altorientalischen Literatur'' (WMANT 74), Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1997.〕〔Michaela Bauks, '‘Chaos’ als Metapher für die Gefährdung der Weltordnung', in: B. Janowski / B. Ego, ''Das biblische Weltbild und seine altorientalischen Kontexte'' (FAT 32), Tübingen, 2001, 431-464.〕 Use of ''chaos'' in the derived sense of "complete disorder or confusion" first appears in Elizabethan Early Modern English, originally implying satirical exaggeration.〔Stephen Gosson, ''The schoole of abuse, containing a plesaunt inuectiue against poets, pipers, plaiers, iesters and such like caterpillers of a commonwelth'' (1579), p. 53 (cited after OED): "They make their volumes no better than () a huge Chaos of foule disorder."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chaos (cosmogony)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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