καρδιακός

Forms

κᾰρδῐᾰκός (kardiakós) m (feminine κᾰρδῐᾰκή, neuter κᾰρδῐᾰκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek καρδία (kardía, “heart”) + -ακός (-akós).^[1][2] The Modern Greek dictionaries describe it as a Hellenistic adjective made from καρδία (kardía).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first securely dated uses are medical: Dioscorides, in the 1st century AD, applies it to people with a pain at the heart, which LSJ takes to mean heartburn rather than heart disease.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant “of the heart”, and in medicine it named heart complaints: Diogenes of Oenoanda and Galen speak of a cardiac affection or of cardiac fainting fits, and Archigenes calls a patient with heart disease “cardiac”.^[5] Sextus Empiricus has the adverb in the phrase “to be in danger of the heart”.^[5][8] In the magical papyri it describes a name written in the shape of a heart.^[9] Latin borrowed it as cardiacus.^[10]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it of things connected with the heart and, of people, in the sense “sincere, faithful”, as in “his heartfelt brother”.^[11] Modern Greek has two words from it: the learned καρδιακός (kardiakós), “cardiac, of the heart; suffering from heart disease”, and the popular word for a close friend, a “bosom” friend.^[4][3] The Χρηστικό Λεξικό traces the modern word both to the late ancient adjective and to French cardiaque and the English word cardiac.^[12]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it of people suffering from pain at the heart.^[5][6][7]
• 2nd century AD – Galen and Archigenes use it of heart complaints and of patients with heart disease.^[5][6][7]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Sextus Empiricus uses the adverb of a danger to the heart.^[5][7]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it of things belonging to the heart and of sincere, faithful people.^[11]
• Modern Greek – The learned word means “cardiac”, and a popular form means “close, dear” of a friend.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to the heart.^[5][13]
2. (medicine) Of a disease or symptom: affecting the heart, cardiac.^[5]
3. (medicine) Of a person: suffering from heart disease, or perhaps from heartburn.^[5][13]
4. (magic) Shaped like a heart, of a name written out in that shape.^[9]

Related words

• καρδία (kardía)
• Latin cardiacus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b Muñoz Delgado, Luis (2001), Léxico de magia y religión en los papiros mágicos griegos, Madrid: CSIC
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
13. ^ a b Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli