μετάστασις

Forms

μετᾰ́στᾰσῐς (metástasis) f (genitive μετᾰστᾰ́σεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek μεθίστημι (methístēmi, “to place differently, change, remove”), the noun of action.^[2][3][4] The verb is made of μετά (metá) and ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to set, make stand”),^[4][5] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Simonides uses it of the sudden change in human fortune, as swift as a dragonfly's turn.^[2] Pindar has it of a transformation: the people of Seriphos turned to stone by Perseus.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

From the 5th century BC it had two sides, following the active and the middle of the verb.^[3] As removal it was the relief from pains or troubles (Sophocles' satyr play, Andocides), the removal of a disease, and the moving of people to another place (Plato), a step short of banishment.^[3][2] As change it was a change of mind or form in Euripides, the giving way of anger in Sophocles, and above all a change of government: in Thucydides, Lysias and Plato a revolution, and in Thucydides also a counter-revolution against στάσις (stásis).^[3][2][8]

Euripides calls the fabled reversal of the sun's course its μετάστασις.^[3] Polybius uses it of departure from life, or simply of death,^[3][2] and Babiniotis counts that sense as Hellenistic.^[5] Pollux uses it for the exit of the chorus from the stage, and the medical writers, from the Hippocratic Affections to Galen and Aretaeus, for the shift of a disease from one part of the body to another.^[3][9] Rhetoric used it for shifting blame onto another (Hermogenes).^[3]

A late medieval text uses it of the Virgin's departure from this life to the next.^[10] In Modern Greek, μετάσταση (metástasi) is a learned word: its medical sense, the spread of a disease such as cancer, comes from the ancient medical use, narrowed after New Latin metastasis; rarely it is a change of views.^[11]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Simonides uses it of a change in fortune, and Pindar of a transformation into stone.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles, Euripides and Thucydides use it of a change of mind, of form and of government.^[3][2][12]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Affections uses it of the moving of a disease to another part of the body.^[3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of moving to another place, and Lysias of a revolution.^[3][2]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of departure from life and of death.^[3][2]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux records it for the chorus leaving the stage.^[3][9]
• 1100–1669 – A text on Sinai uses it of the departure of the Virgin from this life.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned μετάσταση (metástasi) is chiefly the medical metastasis.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Removal, relief from something bad, such as pain or a disease.^[3][2]
2. A move to another place, migration; a relocation of citizens short of banishment.^[3][2]
3. Departure from life, death.^[3][2]
4. (theatre) The exit of the chorus.^[3][9]
5. (medicine) The shift of a disease to another part of the body; in Galen also a dislocation.^[3]
6. A change of condition, form or mind; of the sun, a change of course; a transformation.^[3][2][7]
7. A change of government, revolution.^[3][2]
8. (rhetoric) The shifting of blame onto another.^[3]

Related words

• μεθίστημι (methístēmi)
• στάσις (stásis)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
8. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux