παιδεία

Forms

παιδείᾱ (paideíā) f (genitive παιδείᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek παιδεύω (paideúō, “to rear a child, educate”) with the suffix -ία (-íā), and the verb is built on παῖς (paîs, “child”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Theognis, in the 6th century BC, it means childhood or youth: he speaks of the lovely flower of youth.^[4][2][5] Aeschylus uses it for the rearing of a child.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In classical Athens it became the word for education, the process of training and teaching as distinct from mere nurture, and then for its result, culture and learning.^[4][2] Democritus said that education is an ornament to the fortunate and a refuge for the unfortunate, and Plato and Aristotle use it for education and culture.^[4] The plural meant systems or branches of education.^[4] Theophrastus applied it to the cultivation of trees, and a late inscription calls medicine a “sacred art”, παιδεία ἱερή.^[4]

The Septuagint, where it chiefly renders Biblical Hebrew מוּסָר (mûsār), gave it the sense of discipline and correction, especially God's fatherly chastisement, and the Epistle to the Hebrews uses it so.^[6][7][3]

The word lived on in medieval Greek for learning and instruction.^[8] Modern Greek Παιδεία (paideía) in Modern Greek is a learned word for culture and education; its sense of public education, as in the name of the Ministry of Education, is modelled on French éducation nationale.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it for youth.^[4][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the rearing of a child.^[4][2]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides and Aristophanes use it for education.^[4][2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the cultivation of trees.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The Epistle to the Hebrews uses it for divine discipline.^[3][6]
• Modern Greek – παιδεία (paideía) means culture and public education.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Childhood, youth.^[4][2]
2. The rearing of a child, upbringing.^[4][2]
3. Training and teaching, education.^[4][2]
4. The result of education: culture, learning.^[4][2]
5. The cultivation of trees.^[4]
6. (Septuagint, New Testament) Discipline, correction, chastisement.^[7][3][6]

Related words

• παιδεύω (paideúō)
• παῖς (paîs)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki