μετατίθημι

Forms

μετατίθημι (metatíthēmi); future μεταθήσω, aorist μετέθηκα, aorist passive μετετέθην.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μετα- (meta-) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found once in Homer, in the Odyssey, meaning to cause something among a company: a noise that would not have been raised among the suitors.^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it meant to place differently: to move something to another place, as Plato uses it, and more often to change or alter, of a treaty in Thucydides or of a statement.^[2] In the middle it meant to change what is one's own, laws, a name or one's opinion; with γνώμην it meant to change one's mind, as in Herodotus.^[2] Aristotle used it in logic of turning a conclusion into its contrary.^[2] The Stoic Dionysius who went over to the Epicureans was called ὁ μεταθέμενος, “the turncoat”.^[6][7]

The Septuagint uses it for moving a person or thing to another place, as in Genesis and Deuteronomy, and for perverting or changing someone's mind; the Letter to the Hebrews quotes the Genesis passage.^[8][9][6] In Galatians the middle means to turn away from the one who called them.^[6][10] Medieval Greek used the passive of passing into the next life.^[11] Modern Greek has the learned μεταθέτω (metathéto), whose sense of transferring an official to another post is modelled on German versetzen or French déplacer.^[12][4]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Odyssey uses it once, of raising a noise among the suitors.^[3][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the middle for changing one's mind, and Thucydides the active for altering a treaty.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for moving things to another place.^[2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in logic for turning a conclusion into its contrary.^[2]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for moving persons and things to another place.^[8][9]
• 1st century AD – The Letter to the Galatians uses the middle for turning away to another gospel.^[6][10]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses the passive of passing to the next life.^[11]
• Modern Greek – The verb lives on as the learned μεταθέτω (metathéto), also of transferring an official.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To set or cause among others.^[3][2]
2. To transpose, move to another place, transfer.^[2][6][8]
3. To change, alter something, such as a treaty or a statement.^[2]
4. (logic) To turn a conclusion into its contrary.^[2]
5. (middle) To change one's own laws, name or opinion; to change one's mind.^[2]
6. (passive) To be changed; to go over to another side; to turn away.^[2][6]

Word family

• μετάθεσις (metáthesis)

Related words

• English metathesis

References

1. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
8. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
10. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki