τεχνικός

Forms

τεχνῐκός (tekhnikós) m (feminine τεχνῐκή, neuter τεχνῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek τέχνη (tékhnē, “art, skill”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

LSJ's first citation is a fragment attributed to Epicharmus; in securely dated texts the word appears in Plato and Isocrates, of people skilled in an art.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Plato the word describes someone skilled or expert, especially in rhetoric: the rhetorician who has the art of speaking.^[3][2] Aristotle sets the practically skilled man against the theorist.^[3] Of actions and occupations it meant “requiring technical knowledge”, and Polybius and later writers also use it for “crafty, cunning”.^[2][3] Of things it meant artificial as against natural, and of procedures “done by the rules of an art, systematic”.^[3][2]

In later Greek οἱ τεχνικοί were the grammarians, and ὁ τεχνικός was often the grammarian Herodian.^[3] The Stoic Zeno called nature a “craftsmanlike fire”.^[3] Latin borrowed it as technicus.^[5] Modern Greek τεχνικός (technikós) is a learned word whose senses “technical” and “technician” follow French technique and technicien.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Isocrates use it of skilled and expert people, especially in rhetoric.^[3][2][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for practical skill as against theory.^[3][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of artificial things as against natural ones.^[3][7]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it in the sense “crafty”.^[3][2][7]
• 2nd century AD – Galen speaks of a “technical power” in nature, and grammarians call Herodian ὁ τεχνικός.^[3][7]
• Modern Greek – τεχνικός (technikós) means “technical” and “technician”, after French.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of people, having technical skill; skilled, expert, professional.^[3][2]
2. Practical, as opposed to theoretical.^[3]
3. Of actions and occupations, requiring technical knowledge; of a work of art, technically accomplished.^[2]
4. Crafty, cunning.^[3][2]
5. Of things, artificial, as opposed to natural.^[3][2]
6. Done by the rules of an art; technical, systematic.^[3]

Noun

1. (plural, late) The grammarians.^[3]

Related words

• τέχνη (tékhnē)
• Latin technicus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge