εἰσακούω

Forms

εἰσᾰκούω (eisakoúō) ^[1] Epic and Ionic ἐσακούω (esakoúō), in Homer, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and Herodotus.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek εἰσ- (eis-) + ἀκούω (akoúō, “to hear”), literally “to hear into”, that is, to let words reach one.^[1][3] Strong's dictionary derives it in the same way, from the preposition εἰς (eis, “into”) and the verb.^[3] Spicq groups it with the other compounds of the verb, such as ἐπακούω (epakoúō) and ὑπακούω (hupakoúō, “to obey”), in which the prefix shifts the sense from hearing towards heeding.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in the Iliad, in the Ionic form ἐσακούω, where Odysseus does not heed what is said to him: the verb already means to heed or hearken, not simply to hear.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek the verb meant to listen to someone or to something said, with the accusative, the genitive or the dative, and in Thucydides it came to mean to give way to a request.^[5][2] The tragic poets also used it simply for “to hear”, and a Hippocratic writer used it of the brain that “feels” a wound.^[5]

The Septuagint made it the usual verb for God hearing a prayer, about 250 times, and the New Testament keeps this use, often in the passive: the prayer, or the person who prays, “is heard”.^[7][8][2] It also means to obey after listening, as in the first letter to the Corinthians.^[8] Spicq notes that with the genitive of a person it stresses that the hearer understands and takes the words in.^[4]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it for listening with favour, and in a legal text for a case being admitted.^[9] Modern Greek uses εισακούω (eisakoúo) as a learned word for granting someone's prayer or request.^[10][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for heeding a call.^[5][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with the dative for listening to a person, and Thucydides for giving way to a request.^[5][2]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it simply for hearing, and a Hippocratic treatise of the brain feeling a wound.^[5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the passive of sound carried into houses.^[5]
• 3rd century BC – A papyrus uses it with the genitive for listening to someone.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of God hearing prayers, often in the passive.^[8][2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular medieval Greek uses it for listening with favour.^[9]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned verb for granting a prayer or request.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hearken or give ear to someone or something; to heed.^[5][2][11]
2. To give way to a request; to obey.^[5][8]
3. (poetic) Simply to hear.^[5]
4. To feel the effect of something (of the brain and a wound).^[5]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) Of God, to hear and grant a prayer; in the passive, to be heard.^[7][8][2]

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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b Strong, James (1890), A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament, in The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, New York: Hunt & Eaton
4. ^ a b Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press