δοκέω

Forms

δοκέω (dokéō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbative from Ancient Greek δέχομαι (dékhomai, “to receive, accept”), from its older form δέκομαι (dékomai), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to take”).^[2][1] Beekes groups it with προσδοκάω (prosdokáō, “to await”), the matching derivative of προσδέχομαι (prosdékhomai), and notes that, like all secondary verbs, it at first had only a present, the other tenses being supplied by the primary verb.^[2] The future and aorist δόξω (dóxō) and δόξαι (dóxai) may therefore be older *δέξω (*déxō) and *δέξαι (*déxai) with their ⟨ο⟩ taken over from the present.^[2] He admits that the shift from “receive” to “seem, think” is hard to trace in detail.^[2]

The formation matches Latin doceō (“to teach”) exactly, a causative Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-éye-;^[2][1] the DGE also compares Latin decet (“it is fitting”), from the same root in the sense “to fit, suit”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: in the Iliad it means “to seem”, of a thing that seems the finest of its kind, and impersonally^[4] “it seems to me”, “I think”.^[4][5] Homer also uses it for “to seem likely to”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its two sides, “to seem” and “to think”, run through the whole history of the word: a person “seems” to others or “thinks” for himself, and the impersonal “it seems to me” came to mean “I have decided”.^[5][6] In Athenian usage the same impersonal form announced the resolutions of an assembly or a ruler, what “seemed good” to them; the perfect passive and the neuter participles were used for decrees and decisions.^[5][6] Classical writers also used it for mere appearance as opposed to reality, for pretending, and for being reputed, so that “those who seem” were the men of note.^[5]

The verb is the base of δόξα (dóxa) “opinion, repute” and δόγμα (dógma) “opinion, decision”, of δόκιμος (dókimos) “approved, reliable” and its derivatives.^[2] In the Septuagint and the New Testament it means above all “to think, suppose”, and also “to seem” and “to be reputed”;^[7][8][9] Coptic borrowed it, with attestations from about AD 200.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for “to seem” and impersonally for “it seems to me”.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of decisions that “seem good” to an assembly or a ruler, that is, are resolved upon.^[5][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the phrase “I seem to myself” for “I think”, and Thucydides uses it for being reputed.^[5][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses its neuter plural participle for current opinions.^[5][3]
• 1st century AD – In the New Testament it means chiefly “to think, suppose”.^[8]
• About AD 200 – It is attested as a loanword in Coptic.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To think, suppose, imagine (that one is or did something, or that something is the case).^[5][6][8]
2. To hold an opinion; parenthetically, “I think”, “as I think”.^[5]
3. (first person, with a dative of oneself) “I seem to myself”, that is, I think that I am doing something; to be minded to do something.^[5]
4. (impersonal) It seems (to me), I think; it seems best, it is resolved.^[5][4][6]
5. To seem (to be or to do something).^[5][4]
6. To seem likely (to do or to happen).^[5][4]
7. To seem, as opposed to really being; to pretend.^[5]
8. To be reputed; the participle, persons or things of repute.^[5][6]
9. (law) To be believed or judged to have done something.^[5]
10. Of decisions and decrees, to seem good to an assembly or a ruler, that is, to be resolved upon; the participle, resolutions.^[5][6]

Word family

• ἀδόκητος (adókētos)
• ἀδοκίμαστος (adokímastos)
• δόκημα (dókēma)
• δόκησις (dókēsis)
• δόκιμος (dókimos)
• δοκή (dokḗ)
• δόγμα (dógma)
• προσδοκάω (prosdokáō)
• δοκιμάζω (dokimázō)
• εὐδοκιμέω (eudokiméō)

Related words

• δέχομαι (dékhomai)
• δόξα (dóxa)
• παράδοξος (parádoxos)

Usage notes

The parenthetical phrase πῶς δοκεῖς (pôs dokeîs, “how do you think?”) is used by Euripides and Aristophanes as an intensifier: “you can't imagine how”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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
3. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
10. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig