Etymologically
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λόγος

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ló.ɡos/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈlo.ɣos/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈlo.ɣos/[1]

Forms

λόγος (lógos) m (genitive λόγου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *lógos,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *log-o-, a noun with the o-grade of the root *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”), and the verbal noun of λέγω (légō).[1][2][3][4] The verb first meant “to gather, pick up”, then “to count, recount” and finally “to say”, and λόγος followed the same path, from reckoning to speech and reason.[5][4][3]

λέγω (légō) corresponds exactly to Latin legō (“to gather; to read”) and to Albanian mbledh (“to collect, harvest”), which shows that the root ended in a palatal *ǵ.[5][6][7] A root of the same meaning, *les-, appears in Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌽 (lisan, “to gather”) and Lithuanian lèsti (“to pick”), but its relation to *leǵ- is unclear.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it only twice, both times in the plural for talk: the Iliad speaks of cheering someone with words, and the Odyssey of beguiling with “soft and wily words”.[8][5][4] Epic otherwise does not use it.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Ionic and Attic it became one of the commonest words of the language, and the CGL groups its senses under calculation, explanation and expression in words.[9] As reckoning it is the account of money that an official must render, a total, a proportion and, in mathematics, a ratio, and also the esteem in which someone is held.[3][9] As explanation it is a reason or ground, an argument, a theory, and reasoning itself, including reason as a faculty: Aristotle's “right reason” (ὀρθὸς λόγος).[9][3] As expression it is a word, statement or talk, often opposed to deed (λόγῳ μὲν ... ἔργῳ δέ), a story or fable such as Aesop's, a sacred legend, a speech, a saying, a discussion or dialogue, prose as opposed to poetry, and in grammar a phrase or sentence.[9][3]

For Heraclitus the λόγος is common to all, as against private understanding.[3] Plato calls thinking the inward discussion of the soul with itself, and the Stoics distinguished the λόγος within the mind from the λόγος spoken aloud.[3] In Neoplatonism the λόγοι are the formative principles at work in the world, and Plotinus speaks of a creative reason.[3]

In the Septuagint, where it occurs over 1,200 times, it is the regular rendering of Hebrew dāḇār, “word, matter”: the word of God, an oracle, a matter or event.[10] In the New Testament it is the Christian message, “the word”, and in the Gospel of John the Word, eternal with God and made flesh in Jesus.[11][9] BDAG traces the background of this use in Jewish wisdom literature and Philo.[11][9]

Medieval vernacular Greek used λόγος and its plural λόγια for words and talk.[12] In Modern Greek λόγος (lógos) is speech and the faculty of speech, a word, an address, reason and a reason or cause; its plural λόγια, “words”, comes from ancient λόγιον, “oracle”, and Hellenistic τὰ λόγια, “the sayings of the Lord”.[13][4] English logos, for the divine Word, is recorded from the 1580s, and Napier formed logarithm, “ratio-number”, from it in the 1610s.[2]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the plural for talk.[8][3]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus speaks of the λόγος common to all.[3][14]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for an account of money and for a fable.[3][9]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato mentions Aesop's fables and calls thinking the soul's discussion with itself.[3][14]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle speaks of “right reason” and uses it for a ratio.[3][9]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospel of John calls the Word eternal with God.[11][9]
  • 3rd century AD – Plotinus speaks of a creative reason.[3][14]
  • 1580s – English logos is first recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A computation, reckoning; an account, especially of money.[3][9]
  2. A measure or total; a proportion, a ratio.[3][9]
  3. Esteem, consideration, value.[3][9]
  4. An explanation, a reason or ground.[9]
  5. An argument, a theory, a proposition.[9][3]
  6. Reasoning, reflection; reason as a faculty.[9][3]
  7. A word, statement or remark; talk, often as opposed to deeds.[9][3]
  8. A story, fable or legend.[9][3]
  9. A speech, an oration.[9]
  10. A saying, a proverb.[9]
  11. A discussion or debate; a dialogue; the right to speak.[9]
  12. A subject or topic; the plot of a story.[9]
  13. prose, as opposed to poetry.[9][3]
  14. (grammar) A word, phrase or sentence.[9]
  15. (philosophy) The rational principle of the world, and in Neoplatonism a formative principle.[3]
  16. (New Testament) The message of God; the Word, the Logos, incarnate in Jesus.[9][11]

Word family

  • ἄλογος (álogos)
  • ἀνάλογον (análogon)
  • ἀνάλογος (análogos)
  • ἀξιόλογος (axiólogos)
  • ἀστρολόγος (astrológos)
  • διάλογος (diálogos)
  • λογικός (logikós)
  • λογίζομαι (logízomai)
  • λόγιος (lógios)
  • κατάλογος (katálogos)
  • πρόλογος (prólogos)
  • ἐπίλογος (epílogos)
  • συλλογισμός (sullogismós)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  5. ^ a b c d 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
  6. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  7. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  13. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  14. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge