εὐχαριστία

Forms

εὐχᾰρῐστῐ́ᾱ (eukharistíā) f (genitive εὐχᾰρῐστῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek εὐχάριστος (eukháristos, “thankful, grateful”) + -ία (-íā).^[1][2][3] The adjective is made of εὐ- (eu-, “well”) and χάρις (kháris, “grace, favour”).^[1][4] Πάπυρος derives the noun from the verb εὐχαριστέω (eukharistéō, “to give thanks”) instead.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in the Hippocratic Precepts.^[6][7] In the 4th century BC a decree of the Byzantines quoted by Demosthenes uses it for the gratitude of a people.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

In Hellenistic Greek it is the ordinary word for gratitude, toward benefactors, a people or the gods: Polybius, Menander, the Stoics and Philodemus use it.^[8][9] Inscriptions and Philo add the act of giving thanks, “for a thanksgiving to the god”.^[8] The Septuagint has it in Esther, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach, for gratitude and for giving thanks.^[10][2]

In the New Testament it means thanksgiving to God, and in the plural prayers of thanks, beside petitions and intercessions.^[2][7][11] In the Didache and the letters of Ignatius of Antioch it already names the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper and its bread and cup.^[7] In that sense it passed into Latin eucharistia, Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐍇𐌰𐍂𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌰 (aiwxaristia) and Coptic ⲉⲩⲭⲁⲣⲓⲥⲧⲓⲁ (eukharistia), whose Coptic records begin about AD 350.^[1][12] Through Late Latin and Old French it became the English name of the sacrament in the mid-14th century.^[4]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it for gratitude and for a thank-offering, with many spoken forms, and in the phrase “to have thanks”, to owe someone gratitude.^[13] In Modern Greek the learned ευχαριστία (efcharistía) means thanks, in its formulas partly modelled on French remerciement, and, as Θεία Ευχαριστία, the sacrament of Holy Communion, which keeps the Hellenistic sense.^[14][5]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Precepts have the first record of the word.^[6][7][15]
• 4th century BC – A decree quoted in Demosthenes' On the Crown uses it for gratitude.^[8][7][15]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of gratitude toward the gods, and the Septuagint's Esther and 2 Maccabees use it for gratitude.^{[8][9][10][6][15]}
• 1st century AD – An inscription from Cyzicus and the letters of the New Testament use it for thanksgiving to God.^[8][7][2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Ignatius of Antioch and the Didache use it for the Eucharist.^[7][15]
• 4th century AD – Coptic borrows it, first recorded about AD 350.^[12]
• 13th century AD – The lexicon of Zonaras distinguishes it from petition and prayer.^[16][15]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for gratitude and for a thank-offering.^[13]
• Mid-14th century – English takes Eucharist from it through Late Latin and Old French.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned ευχαριστία (efcharistía) means thanks and the sacrament of Holy Communion.^[14][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Gratitude, thankfulness.^[8][9][7]
2. The giving of thanks, thanksgiving, especially to God; in the plural, prayers of thanks.^{[8][9][2][11]}
3. (Christianity) The Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, and its bread and cup.^[7][1]

Related words

• εὐχάριστος (eukháristos)
• εὐχαριστέω (eukharistéō)
• χάρις (kháris)
• Latin eucharistia

Usage notes

The lexicon of Zonaras separates three kinds of prayer: petition is for those who still lack something, prayer proper is asking God while mindful of his majesty, and εὐχαριστία belongs to one who has become God's friend; it quotes Paul's “petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings” as a progression from lesser to greater.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
3. ^ 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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
11. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
12. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
13. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
16. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius