βαπτίζω

Forms

βᾰπτῐ́ζω (baptízō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek βάπτω (báptō, “to dip”) + -ίζω (-ízō), which Beekes lists among the derivatives of that verb.^[1][2][3] Babiniotis describes it as a deverbative formation from the same verb.^[4] A metathesized form βιπτάζω (biptázō) is found in Epicharmus.^[2]

The origin of the base verb is unclear: Frisk compared it with Old Norse kvefja (“to press down, immerse, choke”), but Beekes objects that this does not explain the vowel ⟨α⟩.^[2] Etymonline mentions a possible root Proto-Indo-European *gʷabʰ- (“to dip, sink”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest texts with the word are in the Hippocratic Corpus and Plato.^[6] In the Epidemics the Hippocratic writer says that patients breathed as though they had been under water (ὡς ἐκ τοῦ βεβαπτίσθαι), and Plato uses the passive figuratively, of men “soaked” in wine and of a youth “out of his depth” in an argument.^[7][8][3]

Semantic evolution

In classical and Hellenistic Greek the verb meant to plunge something completely under a liquid, as opposed to verbs of sprinkling such as ῥαίνω (rhaínō) and ῥαντίζω (rhantízō).^[4] Polybius uses it of ships sunk in battle, and Josephus of a sword driven into a throat.^[7][8] Figuratively it meant to overwhelm: Diodorus speaks of private citizens not being swamped with taxes, and Plutarch speaks of a man drowned in debts.^[7][8][3]

The Septuagint has it four times: of dipping oneself, of washing, and in Isaiah of being overwhelmed by lawlessness.^[9] In the New Testament it means to wash ritually before a meal, and above all to baptize, to immerse a person in water as a religious rite, with the figurative uses “to baptize with the Holy Spirit” and “to be baptized with a baptism”, that is, to undergo an ordeal.^[3][10][11]

The Christian sense passed to Latin baptizō and to Coptic ⲃⲁⲡⲧⲓⲍⲉ (baptize).^[1][12] Through Latin and Old French it gave the English word baptize (about 1300).^[5] Medieval Greek also had the form βαφτίζω (vaftízo), which is the usual Modern Greek βαφτίζω (vaftízo), “to baptize; to give a name to”, with /pt/ changed to /ft/; the spelling βαπτίζω survives as a learned variant.^[13][4][14]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Epidemics uses the passive of being plunged under water.^[7][8][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it figuratively of men soaked in wine and of a youth out of his depth.^[7][3]
• 4th century BC – Eubulus uses the passive for being drenched.^[7]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius applies it to ships sunk in battle.^[7][3]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus uses it of overwhelming people with taxes.^[7][8]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for ritual washing and for baptism.^[3][10]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch speaks of a man sunk in debts.^[7][3]
• About 1300 – English borrows baptize through Old French and Latin.^[5]
• Modern Greek – βαφτίζω (vaftízo) means to baptize and to name.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dip or plunge something into a liquid; to immerse.^[7][8][3]
2. To sink a ship; in the passive, of people, to be drowned or submerged.^[7][3][8]
3. (figurative) To overwhelm, swamp: with taxes, debts or sleep; in the passive, to be soaked in wine, to be out of one's depth.^[7][3][8]
4. To draw wine by dipping a cup into the mixing bowl.^[7]
5. (Koine, middle and passive) To wash oneself ritually, especially before a meal.^[3][9][11]
6. (New Testament) To baptize: to immerse a person in water as a religious rite; figuratively, to baptize with the Holy Spirit or with fire.^[3][10][11]
7. (New Testament, passive) To be overwhelmed by an ordeal, in the phrase “to be baptized with a baptism”.^[11]

Word family

• βαπτιστής (baptistḗs)
• βαπτιστήριον (baptistḗrion)

Related words

• βάπτω (báptō)
• βαφή (baphḗ)
• Latin baptizō
• English baptize

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
11. ^ a b c d United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
12. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr