σχολάζω

Forms

σχολάζω (skholázō) ^[1] Boeotian σχολάδδω (skholáddō), in an inscription from Haliartus.^[2]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb formed from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “leisure, rest”) + -άζω (-ázō).^[1][3][4] The noun originally meant a “holding back, halt”: Frisk and Chantraine connect it with the aorist σχεῖν (skheîn) of ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”), though Chantraine notes that neither its suffix nor its vowel is quite clear.^[4][3] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Hellenic *skʰolā́ (“holding back”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest records are in Aeschylus' Suppliants, where it means to linger or take one's time, and in Thucydides, of soldiers with nothing to do.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Attic it meant to be at leisure, to have spare time, and with an infinitive to have time to do something.^[2][5] Aristotle wrote that “we are busy so that we may have leisure”.^[2] With a dative or a preposition it meant to devote one's time to an activity, and with a dative of a person to give one's time to friends.^[2][5]

As σχολή came to mean study and a philosophical school, the verb followed: in the Hellenistic period it meant to attend a master's lectures, and then to lecture oneself, as Philodemus and Dionysius of Halicarnassus use it.^[2][3] In the papyri it could also mean to devote oneself to farming, and Plutarch uses it of a place left empty.^[2][5] The Septuagint has it for being idle, and Paul uses it for devoting oneself to prayer.^[7][8] The Coptic texts borrowed it.^[9]

Modern Greek has the learned σχολάζω (scholázo), above all in the participle, of a bishop no longer in office.^[10][11] The everyday verb σχολάω (scholáo) “to finish work, to get out of school” was built on the old aorist stem.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for lingering or delaying.^[2][5][13]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of men with nothing to do.^[2][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of leisure as the aim of being busy, and Demosthenes for devoting one's life to a pursuit.^[2]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus and Dionysius of Halicarnassus use it for giving lectures.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Paul uses it for devoting time to prayer.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The learned σχολάζω names a bishop out of office, and σχολάω (scholáo) means to finish work.^[10][12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be at leisure, to have nothing to do.^[2][5]
2. To have time to do something, or time for someone.^[2][5]
3. To linger, delay, take one's time.^[2][5]
4. To have rest from something, to be free of it.^[2][5]
5. To devote oneself to an activity, especially to study; to attend a master's lectures.^[2][8]
6. (Hellenistic) To give lectures, to teach.^[2][3]
7. Of a place, to be vacant or reserved for someone.^[2][5]

Word family

• σχολαστήριον (skholastḗrion)
• σχολαστής (skholastḗs)
• σχολαστικός (skholastikós)

Related words

• σχολή (skholḗ)
• ἔχω (ékhō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
10. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
13. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας