πρόγνωσις

Forms

πρόγνωσῐς (prógnōsis) f (genitive προγνώσεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek προ- (pro-, “before”) + γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”).^[1] Bailly and Babiniotis derive it from the verb προγιγνώσκω (progignṓskō, “to know beforehand”), made of the same prefix and γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to come to know”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest texts are medical: the Hippocratic treatises use it for the physician's forecast of how a disease will run, and one Hippocratic work bears the title Coan Prenotions (Κῳακαὶ προγνώσεις).^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Outside medicine the word meant perceiving or knowing something beforehand: Plutarch and Lucian use it of foresight and prediction, and the astronomer Geminus of forecasting.^[5][2] In the Septuagint (Judith) and the New Testament it is God's foreknowledge; in Acts and 1 Peter it comes close to predetermination, God's intention fixed in advance.^[6][7][8]

The medical sense passed through Late Latin into English as prognosis in the 17th century.^[9] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word, and it lives on as the learned Modern Greek πρόγνωση (prógnosi), used for diseases and for forecasts in general.^[10][11][3]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Corpus uses it for the forecast of a disease's course.^[4][5][12]
• 2nd century BC – The Book of Judith in the Septuagint uses it for God's foreknowledge.^[4][6]
• 1st century BC – Geminus uses it for prediction in astronomy.^[5][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for God's foreknowledge and predetermination.^[7][5]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for perceiving something beforehand.^[5][12]
• 2nd century AD – Galen cites the Hippocratic works on prognosis.^[5][12]
• 1650s – English borrows the medical term as prognosis through Late Latin.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned πρόγνωση (prógnosi) is used of diseases and of forecasts.^[11][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) The prognosis of a disease, a forecast of its course.^[5][2]
2. Perceiving or knowing beforehand; foresight.^[5][13]
3. Prediction, forecast.^[5][13]
4. (Koine) The foreknowledge of God; in the New Testament also his predetermination.^[5][7][8]

Word family

• προγνωστικός (prognōstikós)

Related words

• προγιγνώσκω (progignṓskō)
• English prognosis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ a b Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli