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δίκη

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /dí.kɛː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈði.ci/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈði.ci/[1]

Forms

δῐ́κη (díkē) f (genitive δῐ́κης); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *díkā,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *díḱeh₂, from the root Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point, show”), which also gives δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to show”).[1][2][3] Beekes and Frisk note that it has the same form as epic Sanskrit दिशा (díśā, “direction, region of the sky”), but regard δίκη as an independent Greek formation, probably an extension of an old root noun meaning “direction, manner”, preserved in Sanskrit and in the frozen Latin phrase dicis causā “for form's sake”.[2][4] Beekes holds that the link with “right” must be old, since it is also found in iūdex (“judge”) and in Germanic.[2] The DGE and Πάπυρος suggest that the first sense was “direction, marked line”, from which came “rule” and “custom”.[5][6]

Ancient writers derived it from δίχα (díkha, “in two”), because justice divides the litigants (Cornutus), or from a verb meaning “to seek” (Orion).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.[2][8] In the Odyssey it means the way or custom of a class of people: “this is the way of mortals”, “the custom of slaves”, “the privilege of old men”.[9][10] In the Iliad it already means what is right, opposed to violence, and a judgement given in a dispute.[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine notes that the word has two clearly different uses: in Homer, where it is rare, “rule, usage”, parallel to θέμις (thémis); then “justice” and its legal applications.[3][6] From the first use came the adverbial accusative δίκην “in the manner of”, used by Pindar and the tragedians with a genitive.[11][10]

Hesiod personifies Justice as a goddess, the daughter of Zeus and Themis.[11][10] After Homer the word became the term for legal proceedings: in Attic law a δίκη was properly a private lawsuit, opposed to the γραφή (graphḗ), a public prosecution, and it also meant the trial, the court and the penalty it imposed.[10][11] Phrases such as δίκην τίνειν “to pay the penalty” made “punishment” a common sense; it is the usual one in the New Testament, where Δίκη is also once personified as an avenging deity (Acts 28:4).[12]

Latin borrowed it as dica (“lawsuit”).[13] The phrase θεία δίκη “divine justice” is already Hellenistic.[14] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word, and Modern Greek δίκη (díki) continues it in Modern Greek, meaning a trial or lawsuit and, in “θεία δίκη”, divine punishment.[15][16][6]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for what is right and for a judgement; the Odyssey for the custom of a class of people.[10][9]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod personifies Justice as a goddess.[10][11][5]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the accusative δίκην “after the manner of”.[10][5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the penalty paid for a wrong.[10][5]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Lysias use it for a lawsuit, properly a private action opposed to a public prosecution.[10][5]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for punishment, and once for Justice as an avenging deity.[12]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek δίκη (díki) is a trial or lawsuit.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Custom, usage, the way of a class of people; in the accusative δίκην, “in the manner of”.[10][11]
  2. Order, right, justice; in the plural, the principles of justice.[10][11]
  3. Δίκη, Justice personified as a goddess.[11][10]
  4. A judgement or verdict.[10][11]
  5. A lawsuit, properly a private action; the trial of a case, the court that tries it.[10][11]
  6. The result of a suit: atonement, reparation, penalty, punishment.[10][11][12]

Word family

  • ἄδικος (ádikos)
  • δικάζω (dikázō)
  • δίκαιος (díkaios)
  • ἔκδικος (ékdikos)
  • σύνδικος (súndikos)
  • δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosúnē)
  • δικαστής (dikastḗs)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  9. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  14. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  15. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  16. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki