διαθήκη

Forms

δῐᾰθήκη (diathḗkē) f (genitive δῐᾰθήκης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek διατίθημι (diatíthēmi, “to arrange, dispose of”).^[2][3][1][4] It can also be analysed as δια- (dia-) and -θήκη (-thḗkē),^[1] but BDAG says its meaning must be explained from the middle διατίθεμαι (diatíthemai), used in legal and commercial language for disposing of property, not from the simple θήκη (thḗkē, “case, chest”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Democritus uses it for the disposition or state of the body.^[3][2][6] In Aristophanes it already means both a will and a compact.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Attic law it was a will: Plato and Isaeus speak of making and writing one, and the orators of property left “according to the will”.^[6][2] Dinarchus mentions secret deposits on which the safety of the city depended, probably oracles.^[2][3] A physician's eyesalve was called by this name because its recipe had been deposited in a temple.^[2] In Hellenistic Greek outside the Bible it means only a last will.^[5]

The Septuagint uses it almost always for Hebrew בְּרִית (bərīṯ) “covenant”.^[7] BDAG explains the choice: the word kept the idea of a legal disposition made by one party alone, without the death of the testator, so a covenant of God was a decree whose terms God alone set.^[5] The New Testament speaks of a new and an old covenant, and Galatians and Hebrews play on the two senses of covenant and will.^[2][5] Babiniotis notes that the phrases “Old” and “New Testament” first had this biblical sense.^[4] Coptic borrowed the word, and it is recorded there from about AD 600.^[8]

In Modern Greek διαθήκη (diathíki) is a learned word: “will” continues the ancient sense, and “covenant” and the names of the two Testaments the Hellenistic one.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Democritus uses it for the state of the body, and Aristophanes for a will and for a compact.^[2][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Isaeus speak of making and writing a will.^[6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Dinarchus mentions the secret deposits that guarded the city.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of the new and the old covenant.^[2][5]
• About AD 600 – It is first recorded in Coptic as ⲇⲓⲁⲑⲏⲕⲏ (diathēkē).^[8]
• Modern Greek – The learned διαθήκη (diathíki) means a will and a covenant, and names the Old and New Testaments.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Disposition, state (of the body).^[3][2][6]
2. A will, testament; also in the plural.^[2][3][6]
3. (plural) Secret deposits on which the city's safety depended, probably oracles.^[2][3]
4. An agreement, compact between persons.^[2][3]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) A covenant or decree of God; the old and the new covenant.^[5][2][3]
6. (medicine) The name of an eyesalve.^[2]

Related words

• διατίθημι (diatíthēmi)
• θήκη (thḗkē)
• τίθημι (títhēmi)

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 l m n o p 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 j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f 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
6. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
8. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki