κτίζω

Forms

κτῐ́ζω (ktízō) ^[1] Mycenaean Greek ki-ti-je-si they cultivate and ki-ti-me-no cultivated, of land.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- (“to settle, dwell”).^[2][1][3] The Mycenaean athematic root present Mycenaean Greek ki-ti-je-si matches Sanskrit क्षेति (kṣéti) and Avestan šaēiti “lives, dwells”;^[2] Beekes takes the root as an old i-present of Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- (“to beget”).^[2] The transitive sense “to cultivate, found” is a Greek innovation, which arose in the aorist κτίσαι (ktísai) beside an intransitive root aorist kept in the participle κτίμενος (ktímenos); the present κτίζω, from which most derivatives are made, was then built on that aorist.^[2]

The old intransitive sense “to live” survives in περικτίονες (periktíones) “neighbours”, ἀμφικτίονες (amphiktíones) and Homeric ἐϋκτίμενος (eüktímenos) “good to live in”.^[2] Cognate with Old Armenian շէն (šēn) “inhabited place”, which matches the Rhodian land term κτοίνα (ktoína) and its Mycenaean form ko-to-na.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad and the Odyssey it means to found and settle a land or a city.^[4][5][6] In the Mycenaean tablets of Pylos the related forms are used of cultivated land.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Pindar and the tragedians widened the sense from founding a settlement to setting up an altar, a festival or games, and to creating or bringing about anything: Zeus begets a child, Poseidon invents the horse's bit, and in Aeschylus someone may “make” a person free.^[5][4] Herodotus and Thucydides use it for the founding of colonies.^[5][4] Its derivatives include κτίσις (ktísis) “foundation”, κτίσμα (ktísma) “colony, building” and κτίστης (ktístēs) “founder”.^[2]

The Septuagint and the New Testament use it for God's act of creation, and κτίσις came to mean creation and the created world.^[8] Medieval vernacular Greek had both κτίζω and the form Byzantine Greek χτίζω (khtízō).^[9] Modern Greek χτίζω (chtízo) “to build” continues the medieval form, with /kt/ becoming /xt/, while κτίζω (ktízo) is a learned form; κτίστης (ktístis) is both a builder and, in church language, God the Creator.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for founding a land or a city.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for establishing altars, festivals and games.^[4][5][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for founding colonies.^[5][4][11]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for God's creation of the world.^[8]
• 12th–17th century – Vernacular Greek has both κτίζω and χτίζω.^[9]
• Modern Greek – χτίζω means “to build”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To found, settle or colonize a land.^[5][4]
2. To found a city or colony; passive, of a city, to be founded.^[5][4]
3. To establish or set up an altar, a sanctuary, a festival or games.^[5][4]
4. To build or make, as a tomb or a wall.^[5]
5. To create or bring into being; in the Bible, of God's creation.^[5][8]
6. To make someone or something such and such: “to make him free”.^[5][4]
7. To commit or perform a deed.^[5][4]

Word family

• συγκτίζω (sunktízō)
• ἐγκτίζω (enktízō)
• ἐπικτίζω (epiktízō)

Related words

• ἐϋκτίμενος (eüktímenos)
• κτίσις (ktísis)
• κτίσμα (ktísma)
• κτίστης (ktístēs)
• κτίτης (ktítēs)
• κτοίνα (ktoína)
• περικτίονες (periktíones)
• ἀμφικτίονες (amphiktíones)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
3. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge