οἰκονόμος

Forms

οἰκονόμος (oikonómos) m (genitive οἰκονόμου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) + νέμω (némō, “to manage, distribute”), made from the phrase “to manage the house”.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Phocylides, of a woman as the housekeeper of a home.^[4][5] Aeschylus uses it figuratively in the Agamemnon.^[4]

Semantic evolution

For Xenophon and Plato it is the manager of a household, and on estates the steward, often a slave.^[4][6] Aristotle opposes the good administrator to the tyrant.^[4] From the 4th century BC it was the title of public officials, financial officers of cities and kings and, in Egypt, of administrators,^[4][6] and Lucian uses it for the emperor's procurators.^[4][6]

The Septuagint uses it of royal stewards, and the New Testament of the faithful or dishonest manager in the parables of Luke, of the city treasurer of Corinth, and of the apostles as stewards of God's mysteries.^[7][6][3] The word passed into Coptic.^[8]

Medieval Greek used it of the manager of a household, of the monk in charge of a monastery's stores, and of a just ruler.^[9] Modern Greek οικονόμος (ikonómos) is the steward of an institution, an ecclesiastical title and, after French économe, a thrifty person.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Phocylides uses it of a housewife.^[4][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it figuratively.^[4][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon and Plato use it of the manager of a household.^[4][11]
• 4th century BC – Inscriptions of Priene and Ephesus use it as the title of a financial officer.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Luke uses it in the parable of the dishonest steward, and Paul calls the apostles stewards of God's mysteries.^[6]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of the emperor's procurators.^[4][11]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it of the monk in charge of a monastery's stores.^[9]
• Modern Greek – It names the steward of an institution and a thrifty person.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The manager of a household.^[4][12]
2. (feminine) A housekeeper, housewife.^[4]
3. The steward of an estate, often a slave.^[4][6]
4. A manager, administrator in general; also figuratively.^[4]
5. An official title: a financial officer of a city or king, a treasurer; in Roman times an imperial procurator.^[4][6]
6. (New Testament) One entrusted with divine things, a steward of God's mysteries.^[6][13]

Word family

• οἰκονομέω (oikonoméō)
• οἰκονομία (oikonomíā)
• οἰκονομικός (oikonomikós)

Related words

• οἶκος (oîkos)
• νέμω (némō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
13. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.