θεραπεύω

Forms

θερᾰπεύω (therapeúō) ^[1] Later also θαραπεύω.^[2] Cretan θαραπεύσαντες in an inscription.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek θεράπων (therápōn, “attendant, servant”) + -εύω (-eúō), a denominative verb.^[1][4][5]

Beekes considers the family of θεράπων Pre-Greek: the related θεράπνη (therápnē) also means “dwelling”, and cannot be separated from the Laconian place name Θεράπνα, which points to a word for “house” from which “servants” would come.^[4] Van Brock compared Hittite tarpašša-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it once, in the Odyssey, meaning “to be an attendant”, serving under a leader.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it of serving the gods, and this religious sense, “to worship, honour”, stays common in Pindar, Herodotus and Euripides.^[5][2] In prose it meant paying court to a person, deferring to a ruler or wheedling the people, and more widely treating with honour, caring for parents, the body or the soul.^[5][2]

The medical sense grew from “care for”: in Euripides, Thucydides and Plato it means to tend the sick and to treat an illness.^[5] It was also used of cultivating land and trees, rearing herds, training horses, preparing wool for dyeing and keeping up a navy.^[5] Its noun is θεραπεία (therapeíā).^[4]

In the New Testament it means above all “to heal”, of Jesus curing the sick, besides “to serve” a god.^[7][5] Medieval Greek kept the verb, with a form θαραπεύγω still used in Crete, and Modern Greek θεραπεύω (therapévo) is a learned form of the ancient word.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Odyssey uses it once, of serving a leader.^[2][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of serving the gods.^[2][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of paying court to a person.^[2][10]
• 5th century BC – Euripides and Thucydides use it of tending the sick.^[5][10]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of healing the sick.^[7][5]
• Modern Greek – θεραπεύω (therapévo) is a learned form of the ancient verb.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be an attendant, to serve under someone; to wait at a ruler's door.^[5][2]
2. To serve, worship, honour the gods.^[5][2]
3. To serve a master; to pay court to, defer to; to flatter, win over.^[5][2]
4. To treat with respect, honour; to celebrate a festival or rite.^[5]
5. To care for, look after persons, the body or the soul.^[5]
6. (medicine) To treat the sick or an illness.^[5]
7. (New Testament) To heal.^[7]
8. To cultivate land or trees; to rear or train animals; to prepare wool for dyeing.^[5]
9. To maintain, attend to (a navy, an alliance, an opportunity).^[5]

Word family

• ἐκθεραπεύω (ektherapeúō)
• θεραπεία (therapeíā)
• συνθεραπεύω (suntherapeúō)
• ὑπερθεραπεύω (hupertherapeúō)
• ὑποθεραπεύω (hupotherapeúō)
• θεράπευμα (therápeuma)
• θεραπευτής (therapeutḗs)
• θεραπευτικός (therapeutikós)

Related words

• θεράπων (therápōn)
• θεράπαινα (therápaina)

Usage notes

The Antiatticist lexicon notes that it takes the accusative.^[11]

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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck