διπλόω

Forms

διπλόω (diplóō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek διπλόος (diplóos) + -όω (-óō), a factitive verb from the adjective meaning “double”.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Xenophon's Hellenica, where a phalanx “had been doubled” in depth, in the pluperfect passive ἐδεδίπλωτο.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Aristotle it means “to repeat a process”, and later writers use it of folding a cloak double, as philosophers did, and of multiplying by two.^[4][6] In the passive it describes a sword bent double, a bow-string, a fever that returns twice and a foetus lying doubled up at birth.^[4] The Book of Revelation gives it the sense “to pay back double”.^[3][4] The DGE adds the making of a duplicate key in a papyrus, the doubling of consonants in the grammarians, and the “doublers” of Gregory of Nazianzus, those who taught two separate natures in Christ.^[6]

Medieval Greek replaced it with διπλώνω (diplóno), which survives in Modern Greek διπλώνω (diplóno) “to fold”, with the noun δίπλα (dípla) “fold” formed from it.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses the passive of a phalanx doubled in depth.^[4][3][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of repeating a process.^[4][6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the passive of swords bent double.^[4][6]
• 1st century AD – The Book of Revelation has διπλώσατε τὰ διπλᾶ, “pay back double”.^[3][8]
• 2nd century AD – Vettius Valens uses it for multiplying by two.^[4][6]
• 4th century AD – Gregory of Nazianzus calls those who divide Christ into two natures οἱ διπλοῦντες.^[6]
• Middle Ages – διπλώνω (diplóno) takes its place.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To double, make twofold; to fold a garment double.^[4][6][2]
2. To repeat a process.^[4][6]
3. To multiply by two.^[4]
4. (passive) To be doubled; to be bent double, of a sword or a bow-string.^[4][2]
5. (grammar) To double a consonant.^[6]
6. (New Testament) To pay back twofold.^[3][4]

Word family

• δίπλωσις (díplōsis)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux