μαρτυρέω

Forms

μᾰρτῠρέω (marturéō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”) + -έω (-éō), a denominative verb.^[1][2] The origin of the noun is disputed: it has been explained as a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to remember”), so that it first meant “remembrance”, but Beekes notes that such a form would have given a different Greek word and that the suffixes are not Indo-European, and he takes it to be a loan from Pre-Greek.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 7th–6th century BC, in Alcaeus and Semonides, meaning to testify to something.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Pindar and the tragedians use it for bearing witness, by persons and by things: in Aeschylus a robe serves as evidence.^[2][7] In Attic it is the legal word for appearing as a witness and giving evidence in court or in a deposition, and with the dative it means to testify in someone's favour, so to speak well of a person, a sense found in inscriptions of the 3rd century BC.^[2][4] In astrology it was used of planets in aspect with one another.^[1]

In the New Testament it means to bear witness from personal knowledge, and in the passive to be well spoken of.^[5][4] In Church writers bearing witness to God came to mean being a martyr.^[8] Modern Greek keeps it as μαρτυρώ (martyró), to testify, partly as a learned word; a second Modern Greek μαρτυρώ, “to suffer greatly”, goes back to the Hellenistic verb with its sense changed after μάρτυρας (mártyras), a martyr.^[9]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus and Semonides use it for testifying to something.^[4][5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Simonides and Pindar use it absolutely, to bear witness.^[4][2][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with the dative, to bear witness in favour of someone or something.^[4][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – The Attic orators use it for giving evidence in court.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for bearing witness from personal knowledge.^[5]
• Modern Greek – It survives as μαρτυρώ (martyró), meaning both to testify and to suffer.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bear witness, testify; to attest that something is the case.^[2][4]
2. With the dative, to bear witness in favour of someone; to speak well of a person.^[4][5]
3. (law) To appear as a witness, give evidence in court.^[2]
4. (passive) To be attested; to be well spoken of.^[2][5]
5. (astrology) To be in aspect with another planet.^[1]
6. (ecclesiastical) To bear witness to God; to be a martyr.^[8]

Word family

• ἀντιμαρτυρέω (antimarturéō)
• ἀπομαρτυρέω (apomarturéō)
• διαμαρτυρέω (diamarturéō)
• ἐκμαρτυρέω (ekmarturéō)
• ἐπιμαρτυρέω (epimarturéō)
• καταμαρτυρέω (katamarturéō)
• προσμαρτυρέω (prosmarturéō)
• συμμαρτυρέω (summarturéō)
• ψευδομαρτυρέω (pseudomarturéō)

Related words

• μαρτύρημα (martúrēma)
• μάρτυς (mártus)
• μαρτυρία (marturía)
• μαρτύριον (martúrion)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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
6. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki