λεξικός

Forms

λεξῐκός (lexikós) m (feminine λεξῐκή, neuter λεξῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek λέξις (léxis, “word, speech”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[2][1][3] λέξις (léxis) comes from λέγω (légō, “to speak”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather, collect”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a late word, meaning “of words, concerning words”, found in the Byzantine lexica printed in Bekker's Anecdota.^[5][2] The neuter λεξικόν (lexikón), short for “a book of words”, is attested at least since Photius's Bibliotheca in the 9th century AD, where it means a word-book.^[1][5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Triantafyllidis records a Hellenistic sense “wordy, verbose”.^[8] In Byzantine Greek the adjective qualified knowledge and expressions concerning words, and the neuter noun named a glossary of rare words.^[9][8]

Latin borrowed the neuter as lexicon, and through it or French came the English word lexicon, first recorded about 1600, used especially of dictionaries of Greek, Syriac, Hebrew or Arabic.^[4][1] In Modern Greek the learned λεξικός (lexikós) means “lexical”, and λεξικό (lexikó) is the ordinary word for a dictionary, its modern senses shaped by French lexique and dictionnaire.^[8][10]

Timeline

• 9th century AD – Photius uses the neuter in his Bibliotheca for a word-book.^[1][5][7]
• About 1600 – The English word lexicon is first recorded.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned adjective λεξικός (lexikós) means “lexical”, and the noun λεξικό (lexikó) means a dictionary.^[8][11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for words, concerning words.^[5][2]
2. (Hellenistic) Wordy, verbose.^[8]
3. (Byzantine) As a noun, τὸ λεξικόν (understood βιβλίον “book”): a lexicon, a dictionary.^[5][6][1]

Related words

• λέξις (léxis)
• λέγω (légō)
• Latin lexicon
• English lexicon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Montanari, Franco (2015), The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
7. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b c d e Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
10. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
11. ^ Πολυλεξικό, in the encyclopedia Επιστήμη και Ζωή, Athens