καθίζω

Forms

κᾰθῐ́ζω (kathízō) ^[1] Ionic κατίζω.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-, “down”) + ἵζω (hízō, “to sit, seat”).^[1][4][5] Beekes derives ἵζω (hízō) from a reduplicated present Proto-Indo-European *si-sd-e/o- of the root that also gives ἕζομαι (hézomai, “to sit”), matching Latin sīdō (“to sit down”) and Sanskrit सीदति (sī́dati, “sits”).^[4] In Homer the aorist has the stem ⟨καθεσ-⟩, which the manuscripts often wrongly write ⟨καθισ-⟩, the stem of later Greek.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it both for making someone sit down, as in “seat the other Trojans” in the Iliad, and for taking one's seat; the Odyssey also uses it for calling an assembly to sit.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb was causative, “to seat, set”, and intransitive, “to sit down”.^[2][3] As a causative it meant to post guards or an ambush, to convene an assembly or a court, to set up a statue and to settle people in a land; with a participle, “to set someone weeping”.^[2][3] Intransitively it was used of judges and councils in session, as in Herodotus and Demosthenes, of a suppliant at an altar, and of Apollo on his prophetic seat.^[2][3] Polybius uses it of ships running aground.^[3]

In the New Testament God seats Christ at his right hand, and the verb also means “to stay” in a city.^[7][3] The verb continued through medieval Greek into Modern Greek καθίζω (kathízo), “to seat; to sit”.^[8][9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for seating the Trojans and for sitting down.^[6][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for posting guards and for sitting as judge.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of a charioteer bringing his horses down onto their haunches.^[2][3]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it of officials holding a session.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of ships running aground.^[3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament has God seat Christ at his right hand.^[7]
• Modern Greek – καθίζω (kathízo) means “to seat” and “to sit”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make sit down, seat; to set, place.^[2][3]
2. (transitive) To convene an assembly or a court.^[2][3]
3. (transitive) To post guards or troops; to set an ambush; to encamp.^[2][3]
4. (transitive) To set up a statue or found a sanctuary; to settle people in a place.^[2][3]
5. (transitive) To put someone in a condition, as “to set someone weeping”.^[2][3]
6. (intransitive) To sit down, take one's seat; of judges and councils, to sit in session.^[2][3]
7. (intransitive) Of ships, to run aground.^[3]
8. (intransitive, Septuagint, New Testament) To stay, reside.^[2][3]

Word family

• ἀντικαθίζομαι (antikathízomai)

Related words

• ἵζω (hízō)
• ἕζομαι (hézomai)
• κάθημαι (káthēmai)

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 o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας