Etymologically
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ποιέω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /poi̯.é.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /pyˈe.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /pyˈe.o/[1]

Forms

ποιέω (poiéō) [1] Attic ποέω (poéō), guaranteed by the metre in tragedy and comedy;[2] Aeolic πόημι (póēmi).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoiwéyō,[1] from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- (“to pile up, gather”).[1][4][5] An older /w/ is written in Argive, Boeotian and Elean forms and in Doric ποιϝέω (poiwéō).[5][6][2] The verb is usually connected with Sanskrit चिनोति (cinóti, “to pile up, arrange”) and Proto-Slavic *činiti (“to do, perform”).[5][1]

How it was formed is unclear.[5][6] It is often taken as a denominative of a noun *ποιϝός (*poiwós), but such a noun occurs only as the second member of compounds such as λογοποιός (logopoiós), from the 5th century BC on.[5][6] Frisk and Chantraine considered instead a root abstracted from a nasal present like the Sanskrit one, a view that the LIV rejects.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to make or build something material, such as a house or a tomb.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its uses fall into two groups, making and doing.[2] Hesiod uses it of the gods creating the races of men, and Plato calls the creator “the one who makes”.[2][3] After Homer it is the word for poets composing an epic or a drama, from Herodotus on, which gave ποιητής (poiētḗs, “poet”), ποίημα (poíēma, “poem”) and ποίησις (poíēsis, “poetry”).[2][3] It also means to bring about a result, to cause, and in the middle to reckon or consider.[3][5] In mathematics Euclid uses it of a number produced by multiplication.[2]

In the New Testament it is the common verb for both doing and making.[7] Modern Greek ποιώ (poió) is a learned form of it.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for making houses, tombs and works of art.[2][3]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of the gods creating the races of men.[2][3][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of poets composing.[3][9]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato calls the creator “the one who makes”.[2][3][9]
  • 3rd century BC – Euclid uses it of a product in multiplication.[2][9]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for doing and making.[7]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek ποιώ (poió) is a learned form of it.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make, build or construct a material thing; in the middle, to make or have made for oneself.[2][3]
  2. To create, bring into existence.[2][3]
  3. Of poets, to compose; to put into verse; to portray a character.[2][3]
  4. To produce rain or crops.[2][3]
  5. To bring about, cause; with an infinitive, to bring it about that someone does something.[3]
  6. To put a person or thing in a certain state, to make someone something.[3]
  7. (middle) To reckon, consider someone to be something.[3][5]
  8. To do, perform, act.[2][3][7]

Word family

  • ἀγαθοποιέω (agathopoiéō)
  • ἀντιποιέω (antipoiéō)
  • ἐμποιέω (empoiéō)
  • νεωτεροποιός (neōteropoiós)
  • περιποιέω (peripoiéō)
  • ποίημα (poíēma)
  • ποιηρός (poiērós)
  • ποίησις (poíēsis)
  • ποιητέος (poiētéos)
  • ποιητής (poiētḗs)
  • ποιητικός (poiētikós)
  • ποιητός (poiētós)
  • προσποιέω (prospoiéō)
  • ἀγαθοποιός (agathopoiós)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge