παιδαγωγικός

Forms

παιδᾰγωγῐκός (paidagōgikós) m (feminine παιδᾰγωγῐκή, neuter παιδᾰγωγῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós, “slave who took a boy to school; tutor”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2] The noun is a compound of παῖς (paîs, “child”) and ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Plato's Republic for a kind of medicine that keeps watch over diseases.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word is rare in Classical Greek.^[5] In the Roman period it means what suits a tutor or trainer: Marcus Aurelius speaks of a tutor's frankness, and Plutarch uses the adjective and the adverb παιδαγωγικῶς (paidagōgikôs).^[3][5] Diogenes Laertius records a treatise on education by Cleomenes the Cynic with the title Paidagōgikos.^[3] Clement of Alexandria uses the superlative in his Paedagogus.^[5]

Latin borrowed it as paedagōgicus; from the Latin form English made pedagogical in the 1610s and pedagogic in 1781.^[2][1] Modern Greek παιδαγωγικός (paidagogikós) is a learned revival whose sense “relating to education and teaching” was taken from French pédagogique; the feminine used as a noun names the science of education.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato calls a medicine that watches over diseases “pedagogic”.^[3][4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the adjective and its adverb of what suits a tutor.^[3][5]
• 2nd century AD – Marcus Aurelius speaks of a tutor's frankness.^[3]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Clement of Alexandria uses the superlative in his Paedagogus.^[5]
• 3rd century AD – Diogenes Laertius names a treatise on education by Cleomenes the Cynic with it.^[3]
• 1610s – English forms pedagogical from the Latin form of the word.^[2]
• Modern times – Modern Greek uses it for whatever concerns education, after French.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Suited to a tutor or trainer; guiding, tending.^[3][1]
2. Of medicine: watching over diseases, supervisory.^[4][3]
3. ὁ παιδαγωγικός (understood: λόγος) A treatise on education.^[3]

Related words

• παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós)
• παιδαγωγία (paidagōgía)
• παῖς (paîs)
• ἄγω (ágō)
• Latin paedagōgicus
• English pedagogic
• English pedagogical

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki