διάλογος

Forms

δῐᾰ́λογος (diálogos) m (genitive δῐᾰλόγου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek διαλέγω (dialégō) + -ος (-os),^[1] the noun of the middle διαλέγομαι (dialégomai, “to converse”).^[2][3][4] The verb is δια- (dia-, “through, between”) with λέγω (légō, “to pick out; to speak”).^[1]

It was borrowed as Latin dialogus, and through Latin it passed into other languages, such as French dialogue, English dialogue and German Dialog.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Isocrates and Plato (5th–4th century BC).^[6][7] In the Protagoras (335d) Socrates warns that “our conversations will not be alike”, and in the Sophist Plato defines thought as the soul's silent dialogue with itself.^[7][2][4]

Semantic evolution

From “conversation” the word became the name of the literary form that Plato had made famous: Aristotle speaks of “Socratic dialogues”, Demetrius' treatise on style says that a dialogue should be written in the same manner as a letter, and later writers speak of the dialogues of Aristotle and others.^[7][2][3] Aristotle also used it of arguments in debate, as opposed to mathematical proofs, and Plutarch could use it scornfully of boastful talk.^[7][2] In the 2nd century AD Lucian brought Dialogue on stage as a character, and Athenian inscriptions of the same century use the word for a set debate in which the ephebes contested the precedence of Athens and Sparta at the festival at Plataea.^[7]

In the papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt it took on a technical sense, an account or balance of grain and other goods.^[7][2] Hesychius glosses it as a speech or a poem.^[8]

The learned Modern Greek διάλογος (diálogos) means a conversation, an exchange of views aimed at settling differences, and a philosophical or literary dialogue; its use for the spoken lines of a play or film is a semantic loan from French.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for conversation and for the soul's inner dialogue with itself.^[7][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle names the “Socratic dialogues” as a form of writing.^[7][2]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri from Egypt use it for an account of grain.^[7][2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the dialogue as a literary genre.^[3][7]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian personifies Dialogue, and Athenian inscriptions use the word for a debate held by the ephebes.^[7]
• Modern Greek – The learned διάλογος (diálogos) also means the dialogue of a play or film, after French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A conversation, discussion.^[2][3][7]
2. A dialogue as a literary or philosophical work.^[3][7]
3. (in the plural) Arguments used in debate, dialectical reasoning.^[2][7]
4. A set debate or series of speeches, held by the ephebes at Athens.^[7][2]
5. (papyri) An account, balance or reckoning of goods.^[7][2]

Word family

• διαλογικός (dialogikós)

Related words

• διαλέγομαι (dialégomai)
• διάλεκτος (diálektos)
• λόγος (lógos)
• Latin dialogus
• English dialogue

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 k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
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 n o p Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος