πιστός

Forms

πῐστός (pistós) m (feminine πῐστή, neuter πῐστόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the verbal adjective in -τός (-tós) from Ancient Greek πείθω (peíthō, “to persuade, (middle) to trust, obey”), formed on the zero grade πιθ- (pith-) of its root.^[1][2][3][4] Wiktionary traces it through Proto-Hellenic *pitstós to Proto-Indo-European *bʰidʰtós.^[1] Its meaning is mostly passive, “to be trusted”, but it was also used actively, “trusting”.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: in the Iliad a trusted comrade is πιστὸς ἑταῖρος, and oaths are “trustworthy”.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Used of people, it meant faithful or loyal, especially of a spouse, friend or servant; at the Persian court “the trusted ones” were the king's councillors.^[3][2] Of things it meant sure and reliable (oaths, pledges, signs), and credible, of speakers, arguments and reports; the neuter plural πιστά meant pledges or guarantees.^[3][2] Sophocles also used it for “genuine”, of a true son.^[2]

The active sense “trusting, having confidence” is rare in classical Greek.^[3] In the New Testament it gained the religious sense “believing” (in God or Christ), and as a noun “a believer”, besides the old sense “faithful”, of servants and of God.^[3][5] Medieval Greek used it for “devoted”, “reliable” and “authentic”.^[6] Modern Greek πιστός (pistós) keeps the senses “faithful” and “a believer”, and its sense “exact, true to the original” (a faithful copy) is a learned calque on French fidèle.^[7]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Iliad uses it of trusted comrades and of reliable oaths.^[2][3][8]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it in the active sense “trusting”.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for “credible”, and Xenophon later names the Persian king's trusted councillors with it.^[3][2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for “believing”, and as a noun “a believer”.^[3][5]
• Modern Greek – πιστός (pistós) means “faithful”, “a believer” and, as a calque on French, “exact” (a faithful copy).^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of persons, faithful, trustworthy, loyal (often with the dative, to someone); as a noun, a trusted counsellor of the Persian king.^[3][2]
2. Of things, reliable, sure: oaths, pledges, signs, hopes.^[3][2]
3. Worthy of belief, credible, of a speaker, an argument or a report.^[3][2]
4. Genuine, true.^[2]
5. (neuter as a noun) A pledge or guarantee; reliability, confidence.^[3]
6. Trusting, having confidence (in someone or something).^[3]
7. (New Testament) believing in God or Christ; as a noun, a believer.^[3][5]

Word family

• πιστόω (pistóō)

Related words

• πείθω (peíthō)
• πίστις (pístis)
• πιστεύω (pisteúō)
• ἄπιστος (ápistos)

Usage notes

LSJ records a separate adjective πιστός “liquid, drinkable”, from the root of πίνω (pínō), related to πιπίσκω (pipískō, “to give to drink”) and used once by Aeschylus in the Prometheus Bound of liquid medicines.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux