γραμματικός

Forms

γρᾰμμᾰτῐκός (grammatikós) m (feminine γρᾰμμᾰτῐκή, neuter γρᾰμμᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek γράμμα (grámma, “letter”) + -ικός (-ikós), “of letters”.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use is in the Hippocratic Epidemics, where the masculine noun means a teacher of the rudiments.^[4][5] Plato and Xenophon use the adjective of a person who knows his letters, who can read and write.^[4][6][5]

Semantic evolution

Plato calls the art of letters, reading and writing, the γραμματική (grammatikḗ) (τέχνη), and Aristotle uses the adjective of linguistically correct composition and the neuter plural for linguistic matters.^[6][4][5] A cup engraved with the alphabet or an inscription was a γραμματικὸν ἔκπωμα.^[4][5]

In the Hellenistic period the noun came to mean a literary scholar, grammarian or critic: Clement of Alexandria says that Apollodorus of Cyrene was the first to be so called, and Dio Chrysostom that those now called grammarians were formerly called critics, κριτικοί (kritikós).^[4][5] The profession of the grammarian took shape in the 3rd century BC: he took the children of the well-to-do over from the elementary teacher and laid the ground for rhetoric with lessons in language and literature, and in Rome pupils went first to a Greek and then to a Latin grammarian.^[7] Latin borrowed the word as Latin grammaticus, and its feminine, through Latin and French, gave English grammar.^[8][1][3] The feminine also came to mean an alphabet or script, and an Egyptian decree calls hieroglyphic writing the “sacred” script.^[4]

In medieval vernacular Greek the word meant an elementary teacher and a secretary.^[9] Modern Greek γραμματικός (grammatikós) is a learned word for what relates to letters or to grammar; as a noun it names the Alexandrian philologists, and in popular use a secretary.^[2]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Epidemics use the masculine for a teacher of letters.^[4][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of a literate person, and the feminine for the art of grammar.^[4][6][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for linguistically correct composition, and Eubulus for a cup engraved with letters.^[6][4][5]
• 3rd century BC – The profession of the grammarian takes shape, and a decree uses the feminine for hieroglyphic writing.^[7][4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a literary scholar.^[4][5]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Dio Chrysostom says that the grammarians were formerly called critics.^[5]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for an elementary teacher and for a secretary.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned γραμματικός (grammatikós) means relating to letters or to grammar.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Knowing one's letters, able to read and write, literate; of a skill, of reading and writing.^[6][4][5]
2. Linguistically correct, grammatical; concerned with textual criticism.^[6][4][5]
3. Of a cup, engraved with the alphabet or an inscription.^[4][5]

Noun

1. A teacher of the rudiments, a schoolmaster.^[4][5]
2. A literate person; a literary or linguistic scholar, a grammarian, a critic.^[6][4][5]

Word family

• γραμματική (grammatikḗ)
• γραμματικόν (grammatikón)

Related words

• γράμμα (grámma)
• Latin grammaticus
• English grammar

Usage notes

The γραμματιστής (grammatistḗs) taught reading and writing before the γραμματικός took over, but the two words were sometimes used for each other.^[7][5] The Stoic Chrysippus called the lesser art of reading and writing γραμματιστική (grammatistikḗ), as distinct from grammar proper.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr