κατηγορικός

Forms

κατηγορικός (katēgorikós) m (feminine κατηγορική, neuter κατηγορικόν); first/second declension; adverb κατηγορικῶς^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek κατήγορος (katḗgoros, “accuser”), with the suffix -ικός (-ikós), according to the CGL, Bailly and Πάπυρος.^[2][3][4] The Μείζον derives it from the verb κατηγορέω (katēgoréō, “to accuse; to predicate”), and Etymonline from κατηγορία (katēgoríā, “accusation; predication”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 4th century BC: Aristotle's Prior Analytics uses it for affirmative propositions, and the Rhetoric to Alexander for accusatory speech, as opposed to the defence.^[1][7]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the two senses of κατηγορέω, to accuse and to assert something of a subject.^[1][2] In rhetoric and law it meant accusatory, and Plutarch uses the masculine for informers, the Latin delatores.^[1][2] In Aristotle's logic it meant affirmative, opposed to στερητικός (sterētikós, “negative”); the Stoics and Sextus Empiricus then opposed it to “hypothetical”, for a statement joining subject and predicate and the syllogisms built on such statements.^[1] Josephus and Galen use the adverb.^[1]

Late Latin took it as categoricus, and English categorical appears in logic in the 1590s and as “explicit, unconditional” from the 1610s.^[6] Modern Greek κατηγορικός (katigorikós) is a learned word for what is explicit and absolute, and in logic a categorical judgment or syllogism; the “categorical imperative” is modelled on German kategorischer Imperativ.^[8][4]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for affirmative propositions, and the Rhetoric to Alexander for accusatory speech.^[1][7][9]
• 1st century AD – Josephus uses the adverb, “accusingly”.^[1][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the masculine for informers.^[1][2][9]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Sextus Empiricus uses it for categorical syllogisms, as opposed to hypothetical ones.^[1][9]
• 1590s – English borrows categorical as a term of logic.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Accusatory, as opposed to the defence; as a masculine noun, an informer.^[1][2]
2. (logic) Affirmative, as opposed to negative.^[1]
3. (logic) Categorical, as opposed to hypothetical; τὸ κατηγορικόν, a statement joining subject and predicate.^[1]
4. Belonging to the predicate.^[10]

Related words

• κατήγορος (katḗgoros)
• κατηγορέω (katēgoréō)
• κατηγορία (katēgoríā)
• Latin categoricus
• English categorical

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg