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εὐλογία

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word εὐλογία

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
500–400 BC Pindar More words from the 5th century BC
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek εὔλογος
From the same root
English eulogy ← εὐλογία

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /eu̯.lo.ɡí.aː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /e.βloˈʝi.a/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /e.vloˈʝi.a/[1]

Forms

εὐλογῐ́ᾱ (eulogíā) f (genitive εὐλογῐ́ᾱς); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek εὔλογος (eúlogos, “reasonable, well-spoken”) with the suffix -ία (-ía), the adjective being formed from εὐ- (eu-, “well”) and λόγος (lógos, “word, speech”).[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pindar uses it for praise and for the good name won by success, as in the fifth Olympian, where a prosperous man adds good repute to his wealth.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it was praise and good fame (Pindar, Thucydides, Euripides, Aristophanes), and Plato used it for fine or well-chosen language.[4][6] Theophrastus and Polybius used it for plausibility, a reasonable explanation.[4][6]

The Septuagint changed its meaning: translating Hebrew Biblical Hebrew בְּרָכָה (bərāḵā), it made εὐλογία the act of blessing, the opposite of a curse, a blessing bestowed, and a gift or bounty.[7][8][4] The New Testament has all these senses, as well as praise to God and, once, the pejorative “fine speaking”, smooth flattery.[9][7] The Latin form eulogium passed the old sense of praise to English eulogy, first attested in the mid-15th century.[2]

Today Modern Greek ευλογία (evlogía) is a learned word for blessing.[10] Its medieval byform ευλογιά (evlogiá) became the name of smallpox: Babiniotis explains it as a euphemism, meant to avert the disease, and cites a 7th-century church reading in which most people call a deadly, plague-like disease “blessings”.[10][11]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for praise and good fame.[3][4][12]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides and Euripides use it for praise.[4][6]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for fine language.[4][6]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for plausibility.[4][12]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for blessing, gift and praise to God.[9][4]
  • 7th century – A church reading records that most people called a deadly disease “blessings”.[11]
  • Mid-15th century – English takes eulogy from Latin.[2]
  • Modern Greek – The learned ευλογία (evlogía) means blessing, and its byform with a final stress is the name of smallpox.[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Good or fine language.[4][6]
  2. Plausibility, a reasonable explanation.[4][6]
  3. Praise, eulogy; good fame, glory.[4][6]
  4. (Koine) Praise given to God.[4][9]
  5. (Koine) The act of blessing, the opposite of a curse; a blessing bestowed.[4][8][9]
  6. (Koine) A gift, bounty.[4][8]
  7. (New Testament) Smooth talk, flattery.[9][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
  8. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
Cite this entry

“Εὐλογία.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%B5%E1%BD%90%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B1. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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