σωματικός

Forms

σωμᾰτῐκός (sōmatikós) m (feminine σωμᾰτῐκή, neuter σωμᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma, “body”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristotle is the first author with the word, for what belongs to the body as opposed to the soul (bodily pleasures and pains), and for what has a body (corporeal) as opposed to the incorporeal.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

After Aristotle the word appears in inscriptions and papyri for bodily labour, pains and illness.^[5][7] Polybius and Plutarch use it of bodily strength and activities.^[6][8] In the Septuagint (4 Maccabees) it describes the desires of the body;^[9][4] in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit descends “in bodily form” (Luke 3:22), and bodily exercise is set beside godliness (1 Timothy 4:8).^[4][10][11] The adverb σωματικῶς (sōmatikôs) “bodily” appears in Paul's letter to the Colossians.^[5][2] Coptic borrowed it as ⲥⲱⲙⲁⲧⲓⲕⲟⲥ (sōmatikos), recorded in Sahidic from about AD 300.^[12]

Modern Greek σωματικός (somatikós) is the learned continuation of the ancient word; its use for things done to the body (as in “body search”) follows English body-.^[13] English somatic (1753) comes from a Latinized form of the Greek word.^[14]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of bodily pleasures and of corporeal things.^[5][6]
• 2nd century BC – An inscription from Istropolis speaks of bodily toils.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of bodily strength.^[8][6]
• 1st century AD – Luke uses it of the bodily form of the Holy Spirit.^[4][10]
• About AD 300 – Coptic borrows it.^[12]
• 1753 – English forms somatic from the Latinized Greek word.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for the body, bodily, as opposed to mental or spiritual.^[5][6][4]
2. Corporeal, having body or substance, as opposed to incorporeal.^[5][6][4]
3. (as a noun, neuter plural) Bodily features; material things.^[6]

Word family

• σωματικῶς (sōmatikôs)

Related words

• σῶμα (sôma)
• ἀσώματος (asṓmatos)
• English somatic

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c d e f 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
8. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
11. ^ Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
12. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
13. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com