διαγιγνώσκω

Forms

δῐᾰγῐγνώσκω (diagignṓskō) ^[1] Ionic and later Attic διαγινώσκω (diaginṓskō).^[2][3] Laconian and Arcadian inscriptions from Tegea have the aorist imperative διαγνόντω (diagnóntō).^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek δια- (dia-, “apart, through”) + γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know, recognise”),^[1][4] like ἀναγιγνώσκω (anagignṓskō, “to read”).^[4] The prefix gives the sense of telling things apart: to know one thing from another.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Iliad, where after a battle it was hard to tell each dead man apart (7.424), and where men “distinguish well” in a contest (23.240).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From “telling apart” persons or things, the verb came to mean discerning a fact exactly (Sophocles, Isocrates) and deciding a question, often with a following “whether … or …” (Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle).^[2][5] From deciding it passed to resolving by vote to do something (Herodotus) and, as a legal term, to deciding a suit or giving judgement, from Aeschylus' Eumenides and a 5th-century BC inscription of Tegea on.^[2][3] In the passive Pindar uses it of men distinguished, that is, celebrated, for their virtues.^[2]

In medicine it meant forming a diagnosis: Galen quotes the use from Erasistratus.^[2] Its noun διάγνωσις (diágnōsis) was already a medical word in the Hippocratic writings.^[4]

Modern Greek uses διαγιγνώσκω (diagignósko) as a learned word, taken from the Hellenistic verb, chiefly for diagnosing an illness and, more generally, for concluding from signs.^[6] Its derivative διάγνωση (diágnosi) continues the ancient noun.^[4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of telling dead men apart and of judging a contest.^[2][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of distinguishing whether people are equals, and of resolving by vote.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus' Eumenides and an inscription from Tegea use it of deciding a lawsuit.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides writes that it had been decided that the truce was broken.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for reading a work through.^[2][3]
• 2nd century AD – Galen quotes Erasistratus using it of medical diagnosis.^[2][3]
• Modern Greek – The verb is a learned word meaning chiefly “to diagnose”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tell one from another, distinguish, pick out.^[2][5]
2. To discern exactly, recognise, perceive (a fact).^[2][5]
3. To decide which of two things is the case.^[5][2]
4. To determine or resolve, by vote or otherwise, to do something.^[2]
5. (law) To decide a suit; to give judgement; to take cognizance of an action.^[2][3]
6. (medicine) To diagnose.^[2]
7. (Hellenistic) To read through.^[2]

Word family

• διαγνώμη (diagnṓmē)
• διάγνωσις (diágnōsis)
• προδιαγιγνώσκω (prodiagignṓskō)

Related words

• English diagnosis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki