ζηλόω

Forms

ζηλόω (zēlóō) ^[1] Doric ζαλόω (zalóō) (Theocritus).^[2]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb formed from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, emulation, jealousy”) + -όω (-óō).^[1][3] Beekes connects ζῆλος (zêlos) with ζητέω (zētéō, “to seek”) and δίζημαι (dízēmai, “to seek out”), and tentatively with Proto-Indo-European *ieh₂- (“to pursue, avenge”).^[3] Babiniotis also thinks a link with the stems of these verbs and of ζημία (zēmía) probable.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hesiod uses it of the rivalry of neighbours: “neighbour vies with neighbour” in the race to wealth.^[5][3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter it means to envy or be jealous of a person.^[5][2] Tragedy and Attic prose added a positive sense, to count someone happy or enviable: “I envy you for dying before you saw the depths of misery”, says Aeschylus's chorus.^[5][2] Thucydides and Plato use it for emulating a person or striving after a thing, and Euripides, Demosthenes and Menander for setting one's heart on honours or fame.^[5][2]

The Septuagint uses it both for jealousy (also a husband's jealousy for his wife) and for zeal for something.^[6][5] In the New Testament Paul urges his readers to “strive for the greater gifts”, and the Book of Acts says that the patriarchs sold Joseph out of jealousy.^[7][5]

Modern Greek keeps ζηλώ (ziló) only as a learned, often ironic verb, to covet what others had before; the everyday verb is ζηλεύω (zilévo), from the Hellenistic ζηλεύω (zēleúō).^[8][4][3]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days uses it for a neighbour's rivalry.^[5][2]
• 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Demeter uses it for envy.^[5][2]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus and Sophocles use it for counting someone fortunate.^[5][2]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for emulating a person.^[5][2]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for striving after the better course.^[7][2]
• 1st century AD – Paul uses it for striving after spiritual gifts and for love that is not jealous.^[7][5]
• Modern Greek – ζηλώ (ziló) survives as a learned verb.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be jealous of, envy a person, or (without object) to be jealous.^[5][2]
2. To vie with, emulate a person or his conduct.^[5][2]
3. To count fortunate, admire or praise someone, often for something, or (passive) to be thought fortunate.^[5][2]
4. To strive after, set one's heart on honours, fame or the like.^[5][2][7]
5. (Septuagint) To be jealous on someone's behalf.^[5][6]

Word family

• ζήλωσις (zḗlōsis)
• ζήλωμα (zḗlōma)
• ζηλωτής (zēlōtḗs)

Related words

• ζῆλος (zêlos)
• ζηλεύω (zēleúō)
• ζηλότυπος (zēlótupos)

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 k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b c d 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki