οἰκονομία

Forms

οἰκονομῐ́ᾱ (oikonomíā) f (genitive οἰκονομῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek οἰκονόμος (oikonómos, “manager of a household”) + -ία (-íā).^[1][2] Spicq derives it from the verb οἰκονομέω (oikonoméō), itself from the noun.^[3] The noun is from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) and νέμω (némō, “to distribute, manage”), formed on the phrase “to manage one's house”.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Xenophon, whose Oeconomicus opens by asking whether household management is a branch of knowledge like medicine, and in Plato.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle it was the management of a household or estate, and thrift.^[5][6] From there it widened to the financial management of a state, an army or a war, and to administration in general: Dinarchus speaks of the city's affairs and Polybius of the conduct of public business.^[6][5] The Hippocratic Epidemics uses it of the arrangements made around a patient.^[5] Polybius used it for the ordering of nature and for the arrangement of a camp or of a historical narrative, and later critics for the arrangement of a literary work.^[6][5] In Ptolemaic Egypt it was the office of the steward called οἰκονόμος (oikonómos), and in papyri a contract or legal instrument.^[5]

The Septuagint and Luke use it for a steward's office.^[5][7] Paul applies it to his apostolic task, and Ephesians to God's plan for the world, its “dispensation”; in the 1st century, Spicq writes, it could mean the running of a household, a city or the world, and God's governing of the universe.^[7][5][3] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for the running of a household, an arrangement, care or help, and God's providence.^[8]

It was borrowed as Latin oeconomia, and through Latin it became an international word, as in English “economy”.^[9][2] Modern Greek οικονομία (ikonomía) is a learned word, whose main sense “the economy” comes from French économie.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon's Oeconomicus and Plato use it for household management.^[5][2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for household management and thrift.^[5][6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Dinarchus uses it for the administration of the city.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the ordering of nature and the arrangement of a narrative.^[5][6]
• 1st century AD – Luke uses it for a steward's office, and Ephesians for God's plan.^[5][7]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for household management, care and providence.^[8]
• Modern Greek – οικονομία (ikonomía) takes the sense “economy” from French.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Management of a household or estate; housekeeping, thrift.^[5][6]
2. Financial or economic management of a state, an army or a war.^[6]
3. Administration, conduct of public affairs.^[5][6]
4. Ordering, arrangement, as of nature, a camp, or a literary work.^[5][6]
5. (Egypt) The office of οἰκονόμος (oikonómos).^[5]
6. (Septuagint, New Testament) Stewardship.^[5][7]
7. (New Testament) A plan, God's dispensation.^[5][7]
8. (papyri) A transaction, contract or legal instrument.^[5]

Related words

• οἰκονόμος (oikonómos)
• οἰκονομέω (oikonoméō)
• οἰκονομικός (oikonomikós)
• οἶκος (oîkos)
• Latin oeconomia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e 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
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki