διάγνωσις

Forms

δῐᾰ́γνωσῐς (diágnōsis) f (genitive δῐᾰγνώσῐος or δῐᾰγνώσεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek διαγιγνώσκω (diagignṓskō, “to distinguish, discern”) + -σις (-sis), the verb being διά- (diá-, “apart”) and γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know”).^[1][2] Beekes lists γνῶσις (gnôsis) and its prefixed forms among the derivatives of the verb, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to recognize, get to know”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thucydides uses it of telling which side was winning a sea battle, and Euripides of the power of discernment and of a means of telling friends apart.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Three uses grew from “telling apart”.^[4][5] In medicine it was the identification of a disease, from the Hippocratic writings to Galen.^[4] In law and public life it was a decision or verdict: the orators and Plato use it so, and the Septuagint's Wisdom of Solomon speaks of “the day of decision”.^[4][5][7] Under Rome it rendered Latin cognitio, a judicial inquiry: in Acts Paul is held for the emperor's decision, papyri use it in the same way, and an imperial official a cognitionibus was in Greek ἐπὶ διαγνώσεων.^[4][8] The Byzantine lexicon of Zonaras defines it as the dispassionate judgement of one thing against another.^[9]

Medical Latin took over the Greek word, and English has diagnosis from the 1680s.^[2] Modern Greek διάγνωση (diágnosi) is a learned continuation, used above all of medical diagnosis.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of distinguishing who was winning, and Euripides of discernment.^[4][5][6]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it of the diagnosis of a disease.^[4][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Isocrates use it of deciding a question.^[4][5][6]
• 1st century AD – Acts uses it of the emperor's judicial decision (Latin cognitio).^[8][4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it of medical diagnosis.^[4][6]
• 1680s – English takes diagnosis from medical Latin.^[2]
• Modern Greek – The learned word διάγνωση (diágnosi) means a medical diagnosis or a conclusion drawn from signs.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A distinguishing; a means of distinguishing or discerning.^[4][5]
2. The power of discernment, judgement.^[4][5][6]
3. (medicine) The identification of a disease, diagnosis.^[4]
4. A resolving or deciding; a decision, verdict; the fixing of a value.^[4][5]
5. (Roman period) A judicial inquiry ending in a decision, rendering Latin cognitio.^[4][8]

Related words

• διαγιγνώσκω (diagignṓskō)
• διαγνωστικός (diagnōstikós)
• γνῶσις (gnôsis)
• English diagnosis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki