πολιτικός

Forms

πολῑτῐκός (polītikós) m (feminine πολῑτῐκή, neuter πολῑτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πολίτης (polī́tēs, “citizen”) + -ικός (-ikós),^[1][2] the noun being from Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis, “city”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 5th century BC: Herodotus uses τὸ πολιτικόν for the body of citizens, and Thucydides speaks of care for both private and public affairs.^[4][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant first “of or for the citizens”, as opposed to resident aliens, and then “befitting a citizen, civic”: Thucydides has equality before the law among citizens.^[4] Xenophon opposed civil affairs, τὰ πολιτικά, to military ones.^[4] In Plato and Aristotle it is the adjective of the state and its government: ἡ πολιτικὴ τέχνη or ἐπιστήμη is the art or science of politics, ὁ πολιτικός the statesman (the title of a dialogue by Plato), and Aristotle called man φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον, “by nature an animal that lives in a community”.^[4] Polybius used it for “courteous, civil”, and Hellenistic inscriptions for “secular” as opposed to religious; in Roman contexts πολιτικὴ στρατηγία rendered the office of the urban praetor.^[4]

Latin borrowed it as politicus, and through Latin and French it gave English politic and English political.^[6][3][2] Medieval Greek kept the word.^[7] Modern Greek πολιτικός (politikós) is a learned continuation; its senses “political” and “civil (not military)” are partly modelled on French politique and civil.^[8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses τὸ πολιτικόν for the citizen body.^[4][9]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for public affairs and civic equality.^[4][2][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the art of politics and names a dialogue after the statesman, ὁ πολιτικός.^[4][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls man by nature a political animal.^[4][9]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for “courteous”.^[4][9]
• 1550s – English adopts political, from Latin politicus.^[3]
• Modern Greek – πολιτικός (politikós) continues it as a learned word.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, for, or relating to citizens, or consisting of citizens: τὸ πολιτικόν the citizen body, πολιτικὸν στράτευμα a citizen army.^[4]
2. Befitting a citizen, civic, civil; constitutional.^[4]
3. Of the state and its administration, political: ἡ πολιτική the science of politics.^[4]
4. Living in a community, social: of humans and of some animals.^[4]
5. Of or befitting a statesman, statesmanlike.^[4]
6. Courteous, civil.^[4]
7. (Hellenistic) Secular, opposed to religious.^[4]

Noun

1. (ὁ πολιτικός) A statesman.^[4]
2. (papyri) An official.^[4]

Word family

• πολιτική (polītikḗ)
• πολιτικῶς (polītikôs)

Related words

• πολίτης (polī́tēs)
• πόλις (pólis)
• πολιτεία (politeía)
• πολιτεύω (politeúō)
• Latin politicus
• English political

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge