τακτικός

Forms

τᾰκτῐκός (taktikós) m (feminine τᾰκτῐκή, neuter τᾰκτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek τάσσω (tássō, “to arrange, draw up”) + -τικός (-tikós).^[1] Babiniotis and the Cambridge lexicon connect it with the verbal adjective τακτός (taktós, “ordered, fixed”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Xenophon's Cyropaedia (early 4th century BC) has the earliest uses: a τακτικὸς ἀνήρ is a man skilled in drawing up troops, a tactician, and the τακτικοὶ ἀριθμοί are the regular units of the army.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The neuter plural τὰ τακτικά was the art of drawing up troops, and the feminine ἡ τακτική (sc. τέχνη) became the name of the art of tactics; and Democritus wrote a work called Τακτικόν.^[4][3] Plutarch uses it for the well-drilled movements of a phalanx.^[3] More generally Marcus Aurelius uses it for “regulating”, and Dionysius Thrax calls the ordinal numbers τακτικά.^[4]

Through New Latin tactica the feminine gave English tactics.^[6] Modern Greek has two learned words: τακτικός (taktikós), also popular ταχτικός (tachtikós), “orderly, regular”, whose modern senses follow French ordinaire and régulier, and a second τακτικός (taktikós), “tactical”, from French tactique and English tactical.^[7][2]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of a man skilled in tactics and of the regular units of the army.^[4][3][8]
• 2nd–1st century BC – Dionysius Thrax calls the ordinal numbers τακτικά.^[4][8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of a well-drilled phalanx.^[3][8]
• 2nd century AD – Marcus Aurelius uses it in the general sense “regulating”.^[4][8]
• 1620s – English borrows tactics, through Modern Latin, from ἡ τακτική.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Skilled in arranging things, especially in drawing up troops; ἡ τακτική (sc. τέχνη) and τὰ τακτικά, tactics.^[4][3]
2. Regular (of units), well-drilled (of movements).^[3][4]
3. Regulating.^[4]
4. (grammar) Ordinal, of numbers.^[4]

Word family

• τακτική (taktikḗ)

Related words

• αὐτεπιτακτικός (autepitaktikós)
• ἐπιτακτικός (epitaktikós)
• προστακτικός (prostaktikós)
• συντακτικός (suntaktikós)
• ὑποτακτικός (hupotaktikós)
• τάξις (táxis)
• English tactics

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge