λογικός

Forms

λογῐκός (logikós) m (feminine λογῐκή, neuter λογῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word, speech, reason”) + -ικός (-ikós),^[1][2][3] so it means “of or belonging to speech or reason”.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aristotle in the 4th century BC, used of reasoning that is dialectical or abstract rather than based on the facts of a subject; he speaks of “logical” syllogisms and proofs and of “logical” as opposed to “moral” virtues.^[4][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Its senses follow the two meanings of λόγος (lógos), “speech” and “reason”:^[4][6] as “of reason” it was used by Aristotle of abstract argument, by the Stoic Chrysippus of the human being as a rational animal and by Pseudo-Timaeus of Locri of the rational part of the soul; as a noun, λογική (logikḗ) became the name of logic, the Stoic division of philosophy beside physics and ethics.^[4][6][8] As “of speech” it described the organs of speech in Plutarch, prose as opposed to verse in Demetrius and in inscriptions, and the eloquence of the sophists.^[4][6] Polybius and Galen apply it to the “rational” or theoretical school of doctors, as opposed to the empiricists.^[6][4]

Paul's “rational service” of God (λογικὴ λατρεία, Romans 12:1) uses the philosophers' word for a worship of the mind and spirit, and BDAG compares the “rational sacrifice” of the Corpus Hermeticum.^[8][9][10] It was borrowed as Latin logicus, and its feminine is the source, through Latin and French, of English logic.^[11][12] The word also passed into Coptic ⲗⲟⲅⲓⲕⲟⲥ (logikos).^[13]

Medieval Greek kept it, and Modern Greek λογικός (logikós) means “rational” and “reasonable”; the noun λογικό (logikó) “reason, common sense”, its neuter, comes from popular medieval Greek.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of dialectical or abstract argument and of the intellectual virtues.^[4][6]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus calls the human being a “rational” animal.^[4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of the theoretical branch of medicine.^[6]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses the feminine λογική (logikḗ) for speech as opposed to music.^[4]
• 1st century AD – Paul speaks of a “rational” service of God (Romans 12:1).^[8][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of the organs of speech.^[4][6]
• Modern Greek – λογικός (logikós) is a learned continuation of the ancient word.^[15][16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for speech: the organs of speech; written in prose rather than verse; of eloquence.^[4][6]
2. Having reason, rational; in Aristotle, of the intellectual virtues, as against the moral ones.^[4][6]
3. (Aristotle) dialectical, abstract, purely theoretical; also logical, of syllogisms.^[4][6]
4. (medicine) Of the theoretical or “dogmatic” school of doctors, as opposed to the practical one.^[6][4]
5. (New Testament) Of the mind and spirit; spiritual, of worship.^[8][9][10]
6. (substantive) λογική (logikḗ), logic; τὰ λογικά, logical questions, the logical part of philosophy.^[4]

Word family

• λογική (logikḗ)
• λογικεύομαι (logikeúomai)

Related words

• λόγος (lógos)
• Latin logicus
• English logic
• English logical

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. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d 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 c Thayer, Joseph Henry (1889), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book Company
10. ^ a b Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
11. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
15. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
16. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας