ψυχικός

Forms

ψῡχῐκός (psūkhikós) m (feminine ψῡχῐκή, neuter ψῡχῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “breath, soul”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2] The noun ψυχή (psukhḗ) can be analysed as ψύχω (psúkhō, “to blow”) with a suffix, so that its first meaning would have been “breath”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first common in Aristotle, who sets the pleasures of the soul against those of the body.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In philosophy and medicine it means “of the soul” as opposed to σωματικός, “of the body”: Polybius speaks of impulses of the soul and Plutarch of the vital spirit and of diseases of the soul.^[3][2] The Septuagint has the adverb in the sense “heartily”.^[3]

Paul gave it a new turn.^[5] In 1 Corinthians the ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος is the “natural” person, who lives by the ordinary life of this world and does not receive the things of the Spirit, as opposed to the πνευματικός, and Jude uses it the same way.^[3][5][6] The Byzantine lexicon of Zonaras glosses it as one whose mind is on the flesh, quoting that verse.^[7] Coptic borrowed the word.^[8]

Modern Greek ψυχικός (psychikós) “mental, psychological” is a learned word whose use follows French psychique.^[9] English psychic (1872) is from it; its sense of extraordinary mental powers is recorded from 1871.^[2]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of pleasures of the soul as opposed to the body.^[3][10]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius speaks of impulses of the soul; an inscription of 166 BC also has it.^[3][5][10]
• 1st century AD – Paul's 1 Corinthians uses it of the natural person, as opposed to the spiritual one.^[5][3]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch speaks of the vital spirit and of diseases of the soul.^[3][10]
• About AD 300 – It is recorded as a loanword in Coptic.^[8]
• 1872 – English borrows it as psychic.^[2]
• Modern Greek – The learned word ψυχικός (psychikós) means mental or psychological.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the soul or of life, mental, as opposed to bodily.^[3][5]
2. (New Testament) Natural, belonging to the ordinary life of this world, as opposed to πνευματικός (pneumatikós).^[3][5]
3. Brave.^[3]
4. Given for the soul of a dead person.^[3]

Related words

• ψυχή (psukhḗ)
• σωματικός (sōmatikós)
• English psychic

Usage notes

The adverb ψυχικῶς is used in two ways: in Philo and Proclus it means “in the manner of the soul”, opposed to bodily or intellectual; in the Septuagint it means “heartily, from the heart”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
8. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge