Etymologically
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πάσχω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pás.kʰɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpas.xo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpas.xo/[1]

Forms

πᾰ́σχω (páskhō) [1] Future πείσομαι, aorist ἔπαθον, perfect πέπονθα, also πέποσχα in Stesichorus, Epicharmus and 3rd-century BC papyri.[2][3] Elean has πάσκω.[3]

Etymology

Its principal parts show three ablaut grades of one root: zero grade in πάσχω (from *πάθ-σκω (*páth-skō)) and ἔπαθον (épathon), e-grade in πείσομαι (peísomai) (from *πένθσομαι (*pénthsomai)) and πένθος (pénthos, “grief”), and o-grade in πέπονθα (pépontha).[2][3][1] The further origin is uncertain.[2][3]

LIV and the traditional view take it as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷendʰ- (“to undergo, suffer”), with Lithuanian kenčiù (“I suffer”) and Old Irish césaid (“suffers”).[4][1][3] Beekes notes that such a root would break the rules of Indo-European root structure, and Wiktionary that the Lithuanian has the wrong consonant.[2][1] Following Pedersen and others, Beekes prefers Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind”), the root of πενθερός (pentherós, “father-in-law”), with a shift from “be bound” to “suffer”.[2][1] Chantraine rejects any link with πῆμα (pêma) or πένομαι (pénomai).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on; the opening of the Odyssey says that its hero suffered many pains at sea.[5][6] In Homer it is mostly used of troubles and harm.[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb expresses being acted upon: εὖ πάσχειν “to be well treated” is the counterpart of εὖ ποιεῖν “to treat well”, and Theognis, Euripides, Thucydides and Aristotle oppose the sufferer to the doer.[3][6] Idioms grew up around it, such as “if anything happens to me” for one's death and “what's the matter with you?”.[3] In law ὁ παθών was the injured party.[6] Hesiod and Aeschylus present suffering as the way to learning.[6]

From its stem came πάθος (páthos) “experience, passion, suffering”, a key word of philosophy, and πάθημα (páthēma).[2] In the New Testament the verb is nearly always unfavourable, “suffer, endure”, also absolutely in the sense of suffering death; only once does it mean a good experience.[7][8] Modern Greek πάσχω (páscho) is a learned word, used only in the present stem: to suffer from an illness, to be distressed.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for suffering troubles and harm.[6][10]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod presents suffering as a lesson.[6][11]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides contrasts the doer and the sufferer.[6][11]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and the orators use ὁ παθών for the injured party.[6][11]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for being passive as opposed to acting.[6][11]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it almost always for suffering.[7]
  • Modern Greek – It is a learned verb for suffering from an illness.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To undergo, experience something, good or bad.[6][12]
  2. To be passive, be the one acted upon, as opposed to the doer.[6][3]
  3. To suffer troubles or harm.[6][7]
  4. To suffer in retribution, or so as to learn.[6]
  5. (law) To suffer a penalty.[6][1]
  6. (New Testament) To suffer death.[7]

Word family

  • πάθη (páthē)
  • πάθημα (páthēma)
  • παθητικός (pathētikós)
  • παθητός (pathētós)
  • πάθος (páthos)
  • πένθος (pénthos)
  • παθικός (pathikós)
  • πενθερός (pentherós)

Usage notes

Εὖ πάσχειν “be well treated” and κακῶς πάσχειν “be badly treated” serve as the passive of εὖ and κακῶς ποιεῖν.[3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g h i j Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  5. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ 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
  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. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  12. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press