παθητικός

Forms

πᾰθητῐκός (pathētikós) m (feminine πᾰθητῐκή, neuter πᾰθητῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek παθ- (path-) + -τικός (-tikós), from the stem of πάσχω (páskhō, “to suffer, undergo”) seen in the aorist παθεῖν (patheîn).^[1] Etymonline and Πάπυρος derive it more exactly from the verbal adjective παθητός (pathētós, “liable to suffer”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Aristotle, who uses it for what is acted upon, as opposed to what acts (ποιητικός (poiētikós)), for a being or part of the soul capable of feeling, and for a style or a kind of epic that expresses emotion.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle's uses set the pattern: in his physics and metaphysics the word means passive or receptive, in his ethics capable of feeling an emotion, and in the Rhetoric and the Poetics emotional or impassioned, of speech and poetry.^[4][5] Theophrastus applies it to animals that are liable to suffer, and the Stoic Zeno to the part of the soul that receives impressions and feelings.^[4] Cicero takes it into Latin as a term of rhetoric for the emotional style.^[4] Grammarians from Dionysius of Halicarnassus on use it for passive verbs, astrologers for a sign of the zodiac and the physician Soranus for a morbid constriction of the pores.^[4]

Medieval vernacular texts use it of what has to do with the passions, and so sinful, or with suffering.^[7] The modern word παθητικός (pathitikós) is a learned revival: its sense “passive” in behaviour follows English passive, the grammatical one French passif, and the sense “moving, full of emotion” French pathétique.^[8] That French word came from Late Latin patheticus, from this Greek word, and gave the English word pathetic in the 1590s, first in the sense “stirring the emotions”.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for what is passive or receptive, for what can feel, and for an emotional style.^[4][5]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus applies it to animals liable to suffering.^[4]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it for passive verbs, and Cicero for the emotional style.^[4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Soranus uses it for a morbid constriction, and Plutarch for passive movement without effort.^[4]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses the adverb for “in the passive”.^[4]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for what belongs to the passions or to suffering.^[7]
• 1590s – English borrows pathetic through French and Late Latin.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Capable of emotion or feeling; with a genitive, capable of feeling something.^[4][5]
2. Expressing or arousing emotion, impassioned, of style, poetry or music.^[4][5]
3. (philosophy) Acted upon, receptive, passive, as opposed to active; liable to affections.^[4][5]
4. (grammar) Passive, of verbs.^[4]
5. (astrology) Of a sign of the zodiac, the same as παθικός (pathikós).^[4]
6. (medicine) morbid, of a constriction of the pores.^[4]
7. (substantive) τὸ παθητικόν: the emotional style; in Plutarch, undergoing pain or suffering.^[4][5]

Related words

• πάσχω (páskhō)
• πάθος (páthos)
• παθητός (pathētós)
• Latin patheticus
• English pathetic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki