Etymologically
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στάσις

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /stá.sis/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈsta.sis/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈsta.sis/[1]

Forms

στᾰ́σῐς (stásis) f (genitive στᾰ́σεως or στᾰ́σῐος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *státis,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis, an old verbal noun of the root Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), the root of ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to make stand”).[2][1] The Greek form continues the zero grade *sth₂-ti-.[2]

Cognate with Latin statiō (“standing place”) and its frozen accusative statim (“on the spot”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌸𐍃 (staþs, “place”) and Old High German stat (“place”).[2][1] The full grade *steh₂-ti- gives Avestan stāiti- (“standing, position”) and Russian стать (statʹ, “build of the body”).[2] Old English stede, the source of the English word stead, also belongs here.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first records are in the lyric poets: Alcaeus has it of the strife of the winds, or of their quarter, and Theognis of political faction and civil discord.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Like ἵστημι (hístēmi), from “to make stand” it meant “setting up, placing” (of nets and ladders, of a statue), and, as “to weigh”, the placing of something on the scales.[4][3] From “to stand” it meant a standing or posture, the place where one stands, a station, the position of a wind or of the seasons, and, in Plato and Aristotle, “rest” as opposed to motion.[4][3] Figuratively it was the state or condition of a person, the stand taken by a philosopher, and the “position” over which two orators contend.[4][3]

The political sense, “party, faction”, which led to “sedition, civil strife”, is as old as the lyric poets and is common in Herodotus and Thucydides.[4][3] In the New Testament it means a riot or uprising, and in one passage the continued existence of something.[5]

It survives as Modern Greek στάση (stási): “stop, halt” and the stop of a bus or train, a sense modelled on English stoppage, and, as a learned word, “mutiny, uprising”.[6] In medicine, Latin took it up as stasis, a stoppage of the circulation, which passed into English in 1745.[7]

Timeline

  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it of the winds.[3][5][8]
  • 6th century BC – Theognis uses it for a faction and for civil strife.[4][9][8]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a station or position and for party strife.[4][3][8]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for civil strife.[4][8]
  • 4th century BC – Plato uses it for rest as opposed to motion.[4][3][8]
  • New Testament – In the New Testament it means a riot or uprising.[5]
  • 1745 – English takes stasis from medical Latin, for a stoppage of the circulation.[7]
  • Modern Greek – στάση (stási) means a halt, a bus stop, and a mutiny.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Setting up, placing: of nets, traps, ladders, statues.[3][4]
  2. Placing on the scales, weighing.[3][4]
  3. Standing; a way of standing, posture.[3][4]
  4. The place where someone stands: position, post, station; the quarter of a wind.[3][4]
  5. State, condition; the position or standpoint of a philosopher.[3][4]
  6. Standing still, rest, as opposed to motion.[3][4]
  7. Faction, party; a band or company.[3][4]
  8. Sedition, civil strife, discord; in the New Testament, a riot or uprising.[3][4][5]

Word family

  • ἀνάστασις (anástasis)
  • ἀντικατάστασις (antikatástasis)
  • ἀντίστασις (antístasis)
  • ἀποκατάστασις (apokatástasis)
  • ἀπόστασις (apóstasis)
  • διανάστασις (dianástasis)
  • διάστασις (diástasis)
  • ἔκστασις (ékstasis)
  • ἔνστασις (énstasis)
  • ἐξανάστασις (exanástasis)
  • ἐπανάστασις (epanástasis)
  • ἐπίστασις (epístasis)
  • ἱππόστασις (hippóstasis)
  • κατάστασις (katástasis)
  • στάσιμος (stásimos)
  • στατικός (statikós)
  • ἵστημι (hístēmi)
  • Latin statiō
  • English stasis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e 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
  6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux