κατοικέω

Forms

κατοικέω (katoikéō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-, “down”) + οἰκέω (oikéō, “to dwell, inhabit”).^[1] The Middle Liddell defines it as “to dwell as a κάτοικος (kátoikos)”, a settler.^[2] The base οἰκέω (oikéō) belongs to οἶκος (oîkos, “house”), the old Indo-European word for an abode, Proto-Indo-European *u̯óiḱ-o-, which is also the source of Latin vīcus (“village, quarter”) and Sanskrit वेश (véśa, “house”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pindar uses it with an accusative of the place, “to inhabit Olympus” (Nemean 10.84).^[4] In tragedy it means “to settle in” a country or “to inhabit” a region, as in Euripides' Medea (10) and Sophocles' Philoctetes (40).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Herodotus it means to settle or colonise a city, and in the perfect passive to have settled, to dwell.^[5][7] Without an object it is simply “to dwell, live” somewhere, in Sophocles, Aristophanes, Thucydides and Plato.^[5][7] Of a city it could mean “to be founded” or “to lie, be situated” in a place.^[7][5] The passive was also used of a state that is governed or ordered: Sophocles says of Athens that it is well ordered, and Plato says the same of Sparta.^[5][2]

In the Hellenistic period it is common in papyri and inscriptions for residents of a place, for example the Jews living in Hierapolis.^[8] The Septuagint has it about 685 times, for settling and inhabiting, and in the phrase οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν “the inhabitants of the land”.^[9] In Polybius and the New Testament it is used figuratively of evil spirits or other powers dwelling in a person.^[7][8]

It survives as the learned κατοικώ (katoikó), “to live, reside”.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of inhabiting Olympus.^[4][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of settling a city, and Euripides and Sophocles of living in a land.^[5][7][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the passive of a well-governed state, and of cities situated in plains.^[5][11]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use it of people who live in a town.^[8]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of living in a city and of spirits dwelling in a person.^[8][7]
• Modern Greek – The learned κατοικώ (katoikó) means “to live, reside”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To settle in, colonise (a city or land); to found, establish a city.^[5][7]
2. To inhabit, live in (a place).^[5][7][8]
3. (intransitive) To settle, dwell, live (somewhere).^[5][7]
4. (passive, of a state) To be administered, be governed.^[5]
5. (of cities) To lie, be situated (in a place).^[5][7]
6. (perfect passive) To have settled, dwell.^[7]
7. (Koine, figurative) Of spirits or powers, to dwell (in a person).^[7][8]

Word family

• ἐγκατοικέω (enkatoikéō)
• κατοίκησις (katoíkēsis)
• συγκατοικέω (sunkatoikéō)
• ἐπικατοικέω (epikatoikéō)
• κατοικήτωρ (katoikḗtōr)
• προκατοικέω (prokatoikéō)

Related words

• οἰκέω (oikéō)
• οἶκος (oîkos)
• κάτοικος (kátoikos)
• Modern Greek κατοικώ (katoikó)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge