ζήτησις

Forms

ζήτησῐς (zḗtēsis) f (genitive ζητήσεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ζητέω (zētéō, “to seek”) + -σις (-sis).^[1][2][3] Chantraine and Frisk explain ζητέω (zētéō) as a denominative verb like αἰτέω (aitéō), made from an adjective in -τός (-tós) that is attested in Arcadian ζατός (zatós), and connect it with δίζημαι (dízēmai, “to seek”).^[3][4] Beekes leaves the origin of the verb open.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus and Sophocles, in the 5th century BC, use it for a search for a person or a thing, and Herodotus also uses it for searching ships.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Thucydides speaks of the search for the truth, and Plato makes the word a term for philosophical inquiry, as in an inquiry into the nature of the universe.^[5][6] From Dinarchus on it is also a judicial investigation, and papyri of the 2nd century AD use it for lawsuits and disputes.^[5][8]

In Acts it is the investigation of a case, and the Pastoral Epistles use it for disputes or controversial questions about religion.^[8][6] It passed into Coptic.^[9] Medieval Greek used it for a search, for research in a book, and for a question.^[10] In Modern Greek ζήτηση (zítisi) keeps the sense of searching and has become the economists' word for demand, as in “supply and demand”.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Sophocles use it for a search, and Thucydides for the search for the truth.^[5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for philosophical inquiry.^[5][6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Dinarchus uses it for a judicial investigation.^[5][8]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for an investigation and for disputes.^[8]
• AD 900 – A Sahidic Coptic manuscript records the borrowed word.^[9]
• Modern Greek – ζήτηση (zítisi) means a search and, in economics, demand.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A search, seeking, often with the genitive of the person or thing sought.^[5][6]
2. A searching or examination, as of ships.^[5]
3. An inquiry, investigation, especially a philosophical one.^[5][6]
4. A judicial investigation, and (plural) lawsuits.^[5][8]
5. (New Testament) A dispute, a controversial question.^[6][8]

Related words

• ζητέω (zētéō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki