ζητέω

Forms

ζητέω (zētéō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb, like αἰτέω (aitéō) and δατέομαι (datéomai), formed from an adjective in ⟨-τός⟩, which is attested in Arcadian ζᾱτός (zātós).^[2][3][4] The primary verb survives in the reduplicated δίζημαι (dízēmai, “to seek”), and the same root left traces in ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal”) and ζημία (zēmíā, “loss, penalty”).^[2][3][4]

Beekes, following García Ramón, traces the root to Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂-.^[2] Wiktionary, which calls the formation uncertain, glosses that root as “to go, seek”.^[1] Beekes gives no further origin for the verb itself.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it only once, in the Iliad, where a speaker says that he was sought above all others.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From the 6th century BC it is common for looking for something lost or wanted and for seeking to obtain something, such as safety or a release from troubles in Aeschylus.^[5][7] With an infinitive it meant “to try to do”, in Herodotus, tragedy and Attic prose.^[7] Sophocles has the maxim that what is sought can be caught.^[5]

In Attic prose it became the word for inquiry: Xenophon uses it of investigating divine things, Plato's Socrates of his search at the god's bidding, and the participle “what is being sought” came to mean the question under discussion in Plato and Aristotle.^[5] It was also used of judicial inquiry.^[5] The derivatives ζήτησις (zḗtēsis) and ζήτημα (zḗtēma) took on the senses of philosophical or legal inquiry and of a problem.^[3]

In the New Testament it is used of seeking what has been lost, of seeking God, and of trying to obtain or demanding something.^[8] Modern Greek ζητώ (zitó) continues it,^[9] and the form ζητάω is medieval.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – Its only Homeric use is in the Iliad, of seeking someone above all others.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod has the variant ζητεύω.^[3][11]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it of seeking something one wants.^[7][11]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles writes that what is sought can be found.^[5][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of philosophical inquiry.^[5][11]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of seeking the lost and seeking God.^[8]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek ζητώ (zitó) continues the ancient verb.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seek, look for a person or thing; to search.^[5][7]
2. To inquire after someone; to search out a culprit.^[5][7]
3. To seek to obtain, strive for: a livelihood, safety, an alliance.^[7]
4. To feel the want of something, as food in a famine.^[7]
5. With an infinitive, to try, attempt to do something; to wish for.^[7][12]
6. To investigate, examine, of philosophical or judicial inquiry.^[5]
7. (New Testament) To seek God; to demand, require.^[8]

Word family

• ἀναζητέω (anazētéō)
• ἀναζήτησις (anazḗtēsis)
• ἀντιζητέω (antizētéō)
• διαζητέω (diazētéō)
• δυσζήτητος (duszḗtētos)
• ἐπιζητέω (epizētéō)
• ζήτημα (zḗtēma)
• ζητήσιμος (zētḗsimos)
• ζήτησις (zḗtēsis)
• ζητητέος (zētētéos)
• ζητητής (zētētḗs)
• ζητητικός (zētētikós)
• ζητητός (zētētós)
• προσαναζητέω (prosanazētéō)

Related words

• δίζημαι (dízēmai)
• ζῆλος (zêlos)
• ζημία (zēmíā)
• Modern Greek ζητώ (zitó)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
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. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Zalizniak, Anna A., et al. (2024), Database of Semantic Shifts (DatSemShift), Moscow: Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, https://datsemshift.ru