πρόληψις

Forms

πρόληψῐς (prólēpsis) f (genitive προλήψεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek προλαμβάνω (prolambánō, “to take beforehand”) + -σις (-sis), an action noun of that verb.^[1][2][3] The verb is from Ancient Greek πρό (pró, “before”) + λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Epicurus, as a technical term of his philosophy: a preconception, the general notion into which new experience is fitted.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The Stoics took the word over: Chrysippus speaks of innate preconceptions and of the common notion of mankind.^[5][3] In ordinary use, from Polybius on, it meant a previous notion of something, an anticipation or presentiment of what will happen.^[5][6] Rhetoric used it for answering an objection before the opponent makes it.^[5][2][7] Late writers also used it simply of taking something in advance, an oath or a payment.^[5] Hesychius glosses it as foreknowledge.^[8]

In medieval Greek it meant an opinion founded on signs rather than facts, and in law a presumption.^[9] Modern Greek πρόληψη (prólipsi) is a learned revival whose new senses follow French: prevention, a superstition or prejudice, and the rhetorical figure.^[10][3] Through Latin the word reached English as prolepsis in the 1570s.^[4]

Timeline

• 3rd century BC – The Stoic Chrysippus speaks of innate preconceptions.^[5][11]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of a previous notion or expectation.^[5][6][11]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo uses it of anticipation in general.^[5][11]
• 2nd century AD – Hermogenes uses it in rhetoric of anticipating a suspicion.^[5][11]
• 3rd century AD – Heliodorus uses it of taking an oath or a payment beforehand.^[5][11]
• 4th century AD – Iamblichus says some animals have a foreknowledge of earthquakes and rain.^[5][11]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it of a presumption or suspicion.^[9]
• 1570s – English borrows prolepsis through Latin.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (philosophy) A preconception, general notion: in Epicurus the mental picture into which experience is fitted, in the Stoics an innate or common notion.^[5][2]
2. A previous notion, anticipation or presentiment of something to come.^[5][6]
3. (rhetoric) Anticipating an objection or suspicion and answering it in advance.^[5][2]
4. A taking beforehand, as of an oath or a fee.^[5]

Related words

• προλαμβάνω (prolambánō)
• λῆψις (lêpsis)
• English prolepsis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge