προγιγνώσκω

Forms

προγιγνώσκω (progignṓskō), Ionic and later προγινώσκω; future προγνώσομαι, second aorist προέγνων, Epic aorist infinitive προγνώμεναι^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πρό (pró, “before”) + γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know”).^[4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Epic aorist infinitive προγνώμεναι in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (257), where it means to know something beforehand.^[1][7][2]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek the verb meant to know, perceive or learn in advance: Euripides uses it for showing forethought, and Thucydides for judging beforehand with a view to future glory.^[1][2] Plato and Xenophon use it for foreseeing that something will happen.^[2][1]

In Hippocratic medicine it became a technical word: the physician should know and declare, without being told, a patient's present, past and future condition, which is the art of prognosis.^[1][8] Aristotle says that bees can foretell a storm.^[1] In the passive it meant to be already known (Aristotle) or to be judged beforehand, as of a man found by the arbitrator to have done wrong (Demosthenes).^[2][1]

The Book of Wisdom uses it for foreseeing and for being made known in advance.^[9] In the New Testament it is said of Christians who know something in advance and, in Paul, of God, who foreknows his people, and BDAG notes that the sense there comes close to choosing beforehand.^[10][1] Later prose kept the classical sense, and Philostratus construes it with the genitive, to learn something before the gods do.^[1][10]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Demeter has the Epic aorist infinitive in the sense “to know beforehand”.^[7][1]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for showing forethought, and Thucydides for judging beforehand.^[2][1][11]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it for the physician's foreknowledge of a disease.^[1][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle says that bees foretell a storm, and Demosthenes uses the passive for being judged beforehand.^[1][11]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus construes it with the genitive, to learn something before someone else.^[1][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To know, learn or perceive beforehand; to foresee.^[1][2]
2. (medicine) To know a patient's condition without being told; to prognosticate.^[1]
3. To show forethought; to judge or decide beforehand; in the passive, to be judged beforehand.^[1][2]
4. To have prior knowledge of something or someone; in the passive, to be already known.^[2][10]
5. (New Testament) Of God, to foreknow, and so to choose beforehand.^[10][1]

Related words

• γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō)
• πρόγνωσις (prógnōsis)

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
4. ^ Bailly, Anatole (1901), Abrégé du dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
6. ^ Woordenboek Grieks/Nederlands (2012–), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, https://woordenboekgrieks.nl
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge