πραγματικός

Forms

πρᾱγμᾰτῐκός (prāgmatikós) m (feminine πρᾱγμᾰτῐκή, neuter πρᾱγμᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πρᾶγμα (prâgma, “deed, matter, affair”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2] The noun is from Ancient Greek πράσσω (prássō, “to do, act”).^[2]

It was borrowed as Latin pragmaticus, “skilled in business or law”, from which come French pragmatique and English pragmatic.^[3][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Polybius (2nd century BC), who uses it of men fit for action and public affairs, of statesmanlike speeches and deeds, and of his own kind of history, which deals with political and military events.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Polybius uses it in several shades: “practical” and “experienced”, but also, unfavourably, “scheming”, and of troops, attacks or a fortified hill, “effective” or “formidable”.^[5][4] In the 2nd century BC it was also used as a noun for a civil official, as opposed to a military officer, in papyri and inscriptions from Egypt; the First Book of Esdras uses it for the officials of the temple.^[4][6]

Cicero used it in Latin letters of “men of affairs”, and in Latin pragmaticus became a legal adviser; in Greek inscriptions and papyri of the 2nd century AD a πραγματικός is the agent or attorney of a city or district.^[4] Rhetoricians and philosophers used it for what concerns the subject matter or the facts, as opposed to style or to words, and in the magical papyri it names an effective spell.^[4] Justinian's laws used πραγματικὸς τύπος for the Latin “pragmatic sanction”.^[4]

Kriaras records a medieval legal sense, “relating to property”.^[7] Modern Greek Πραγματικός (pragmatikós) is now a learned word whose main sense, “real, actual”, is a semantic loan from French.^[8] The English word pragmatic first meant “meddlesome” in the 17th century.^[2]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of practical men and of “pragmatic” history.^[4][5]
• 2nd century BC – A papyrus from Tebtunis uses it as a noun for a civil official.^[4]
• 1st century BC – Cicero uses the borrowed word in his Latin letters for men of affairs.^[4]
• 2nd century AD – Inscriptions and papyri use it for the agent or attorney of a city.^[4]
• 1610s – English borrows pragmatic, through French or Latin.^[2]
• Modern Greek – The learned πραγματικός (pragmatikós) means “real, actual”, after French.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of persons: fit for business or action, practical, statesmanlike.^[4][5]
2. (pejorative) Scheming, crafty.^[4][5]
3. Of forces, attacks or strongholds: effective, efficient; formidable.^[5][4]
4. Of history: dealing with political and military events, systematic.^[4][5]
5. (rhetoric, philosophy) Concerning the subject matter or the facts, as opposed to style or words.^[4]

Noun

1. A civil official, as opposed to a military officer; a temple official.^[4][6]
2. An agent or attorney of a city or district.^[4]

Related words

• πρᾶγμα (prâgma)
• πράσσω (prássō)
• πρακτικός (praktikós)
• Latin pragmaticus
• English pragmatic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
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