γυμνάζω

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ɡym.náz.dɔː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ʝymˈna.zo/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ʝymˈna.zo/^[1]

Forms

γυμνάζω (gumnázō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”) with the verbal suffix -άζω (-ázō): “to train naked”, since Greek athletes exercised naked.^[1][2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Theognis uses the middle with an erotic connotation: “blessed is he who loves and exercises”.^[5][2] Aeschylus has the active.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant to train by physical exercises a person, the body or horses, and in the middle to take exercise, to do gymnastics, which Herodotus and Thucydides describe.^[2][5] Doctors and Xenophon recommend exercise for health.^[5] Isocrates, Plato and Xenophon extend it to training of every kind, of the mind as well as the body, and Polybius uses it for training troops.^[2][3]

The Second Book of Maccabees uses it for harassing an enemy.^[6] In the New Testament it is moral and spiritual training: “train yourself in godliness”, and, of false teachers, “a heart trained in greed”.^[4] Medieval Greek used the participle for “experienced”, as in men trained in war.^[7] Modern Greek γυμνάζω (gymnázo) is a learned word meaning to exercise and to train.^[8] Its derivatives include γυμνάσιον (gumnásion) and γυμναστής (gumnastḗs).^[1]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Theognis uses the middle.^[5][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the active.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use the middle for athletic exercise.^[2][5]
• 4th century BC – Isocrates uses it for training the mind.^[3][4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for training troops.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for spiritual training.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To train by physical exercise; to exercise the body, a person or horses.^[2][3]
2. (middle) To take exercise, do gymnastics.^[2][5]
3. To train, give practice in any activity, of the mind or of troops.^[2][3]
4. (Septuagint) To harass.^[6]
5. (New Testament) To train oneself, undergo discipline.^[4]

Related words

• γυμνός (gumnós)
• γυμνάσιον (gumnásion)
• English gymnasium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki