πιστεύω

Forms

πιστεύω (pisteúō), future πιστεύσω, aorist ἐπίστευσα, perfect πεπίστευκα; passive aorist ἐπιστεύθην.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a verb with the suffix -εύω (-eúō), from Ancient Greek πίστις (pístis, “trust, faith”) or πιστός (pistós, “faithful, trustworthy”).^[2][4][1][5] These belong to the zero grade of πείθω (peíthō), middle “to obey, trust”, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to convince, trust”).^[5] Cognate with Latin fīdō (“to trust”), Latin fidēs (“trust”) and Albanian besë (“faith”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus uses it in the Persians of trusting the oracles of the gods, and Herodotus of trusting a person or an account.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it means to trust or rely on a person, a statement or evidence, with the dative; to believe or be confident that something is so, with an infinitive; and in the passive to be trusted or believed.^[2][4] Xenophon and others use it for entrusting something to someone, and since Polybius the passive means “to be entrusted with”.^[2][4]

The Septuagint made it the regular rendering of the Hebrew verb he’ĕmîn, and constructed it with ἐν, ἐπί and εἰς.^[7][2] In the New Testament, especially in John, it is the verb of religious faith, “to believe in” God or Christ, and used absolutely, “to become a believer”.^[3][4][2] It continued through medieval vernacular Greek, where πιστεύγω also occurs.^[8] Modern Greek πιστεύω (pistévo) means to be convinced of something, to believe in God, and to think.^[9] Coptic and Old Nubian borrowed it.^[1]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus speaks of trusting the oracles of the gods.^[2][4][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it of trusting people, words and evidence.^[2][4][10]
• 4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of entrusting something to someone.^[2][4][10]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for believing in God.^[7][2]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses the passive for being entrusted with something.^[2][4][10]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament makes it the verb of Christian faith.^[3][4]
• Modern Greek – πιστεύω (pistévo) means to believe and to think.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To trust, put faith in, rely on a person, word or thing.^[2][4]
2. To believe, be convinced (of something); to believe that something is so.^[2][4]
3. (passive) To be trusted, be believed.^[2][4]
4. To entrust something to someone, and in the passive to be entrusted with something.^[2][4]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) To believe in God or Christ, to have faith; absolutely, to be a believer.^[2][3][7]

Word family

• πίστευσις (písteusis)
• πίστευμα (písteuma)
• ἀπιστέω (apistéō)

Related words

• πίστις (pístis)
• πιστός (pistós)
• πείθω (peíthō)
• Latin fidēs

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 l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge