Etymologically
Log in

μάστιξ

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 25 October 2026 at 02:12. This address is a permanent link to this version.
← Previous version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /más.tiːks/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmas.tiks/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmas.tiks/[1]

Forms

μᾰ́στῑξ (mástīx) f (genitive μᾰ́στῑγος); third declension[1] Homer also has the dative μάστι and the accusative μάστιν (Iliad 23.500) of μάστις.[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of the suffix ⟨-ῑγ-⟩.[4][5][1] Chantraine instead derives it from the root of μαίομαι (maíomai, “to seek, reach for”), with the instrument suffix *-ti- (as in ἄρυστις (árustis, “ladle”)), an expressive ⟨γ⟩ and a lengthened iota.[2][6] Beekes doubts this connection.[4] Beside it stands the Ionic form μάστις (mástis), without the guttural.[7][2]

The Etymologicum Magnum derives it from μαστίζω (mastízō, “to whip”), and that verb from μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”) or from ἱμάσσω (himássō, “to lash”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the whip used to drive chariot horses, though in the chariot race of Book 23 it seems to be the same as a κέντρον (kéntron), and the epic whip was probably a kind of goad.[3][9] The Iliad also calls the power with which Zeus drives the warriors “the whip of Zeus” (12.37).[7][9]

Semantic evolution

In Herodotus it is a horse whip and also the lash under which soldiers were driven across.[7] From Anacreon on it is also the scourge used for flogging and torture.[7][9] Tragedy uses it figuratively: Aeschylus has the scourge of a god, the gadfly that pursued Io, and the double lash of Ares, meaning fire and sword, and Pindar the lash of Persuasion.[7][9]

In the Septuagint it is a whip and a plague sent by God, and Spicq notes that the whip was the instrument of discipline, used by fathers on their children and by authorities on lawbreakers.[10][11] In the Gospel of Mark it means a bodily affliction, an illness.[7][12][9] It was borrowed as Coptic ⲙⲁⲥⲧⲓⲝ (mastix), in a manuscript of about AD 200.[13] Modern Greek μάστιγα (mástiga), from the accusative, is a learned word for a whip and for a scourge such as a disease.[14][6]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for the whip or goad of chariot horses and speaks of “the whip of Zeus”.[3][7][9]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar speaks of the lash of Persuasion.[7][9][15]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a scourge sent by a god.[7][9][15]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus describes soldiers driven under the lash.[7][15]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospel of Mark uses it for an illness.[7][12][9]
  • About AD 200 – The Coptic borrowing is first recorded.[13]
  • Modern Greek – The learned μάστιγα means a whip and a scourge.[14][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A whip or goad for driving horses or mules.[7][9]
  2. A whip or lash for people, especially for flogging and torture.[9][7]
  3. (figurative) A scourge or plague, especially one sent by a god.[7][9]
  4. (New Testament) A bodily affliction, illness, suffering.[12][9][7]

Word family

  • μαστιάω (mastiáō)
  • μαστίζω (mastízō)
  • μαστίω (mastíō)
  • ἀμαστίγωτος (amastígōtos)
  • ἐκμαστιγόω (ekmastigóō)
  • καταμαστιγόω (katamastigóō)
  • μαστιγόω (mastigóō)
  • μαστιγίας (mastigías)
  • μαστίγιον (mastígion)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  3. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  4. ^ a b 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
  5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  11. ^ Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
  14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  15. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge