ἀκακία

ἀκακία¹ acacia

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /a.ka.kí.aː/^[4]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /a.kaˈci.a/^[4]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /a.kaˈci.a/^[4]

Forms

ἀκᾰκίᾱ (akakíā) f (genitive ἀκᾰκίᾱς); first declension^[4]

Etymology

The word for the acacia is probably Pre-Greek, in Beekes's view a substrate word.^[5][6] Furnée compared κάκτος (káktos); if the two belong together, ἀκακία would have the prothetic vowel and the variation between /k/ and /kt/ found in other Pre-Greek words.^[6] Beekes also compares the plant name ἀκακαλίς (akakalís), and Frisk calls the word foreign.^[5][7] Scarborough's database rates the Pre-Greek origin as highly reliable.^[8]

Others look abroad: Chantraine assumed an Oriental origin, for which Beekes sees no reason.^[5] Kramer compared Coptic ⲕⲁⲕⲉ (kake, “darkness”), from the dark colour of the wood, with the first vowel taken over from ἄκανθος (ákanthos), but Beekes finds this unconvincing.^[5] Wiktionary accepts the Coptic source and traces it to Egyptian kkw (“darkness”).^[4] The DGE calls it a borrowing of unknown origin, and Triantafyllidis and Babiniotis a possible Eastern loan.^[2][3][9] Babiniotis adds that the tree name was probably linked by popular etymology with ἀκακία “guilelessness”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Hippocratic treatise Diseases of Women, as the name of a plant.^[8][10][9]

Semantic evolution

In the medical writers of the Roman period it is the gum-yielding acacia of Egypt and also a kind of broom, Genista acanthoclada.^[1][2] Dioscorides describes both, and Aretaeus uses it in his remedies.^[1][2][5] Papyri of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD mention it too.^[2] Coptic borrowed it, with forms recorded from about AD 600.^[11]

Medieval Greek used the word for the flowers and the gum of the plant.^[12] Modern Greek ακακία (akakía) is a learned revival, the name of a family of trees and shrubs with thorny branches and small round flowers.^[3] English took acacia from Latin in the 1540s.^[13]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Diseases of Women mentions it.^[8][10][9]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides describes the acacia and a broom of the same name.^[1][2]
• 2nd century AD – Aretaeus uses it in his remedies.^[1][2]
• About AD 600 – The first Coptic manuscripts with the borrowed word are written.^[11]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for the flowers and the gum of the plant.^[12]
• 1540s – English takes acacia from Latin.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The acacia, a gum-yielding thorny tree of Egypt.^[1][2]
2. A kind of broom, Genista acanthoclada.^[1][2][5]

ἀκακία² guilelessness

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /a.ka.kí.aː/^[4]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /a.kaˈci.a/^[4]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /a.kaˈci.a/^[4]

Forms

ἀκᾰκίᾱ (akakíā) f (genitive ἀκᾰκίᾱς); first declension^[4]

Etymology

The word for guilelessness is formed from Ancient Greek ἄκακος (ákakos, “guileless”) + -ία (-ía), an abstract noun from the adjective.^[1][14][4] The adjective is made of the privative ἀ- (a-, “not”) and κακός (kakós, “bad”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 4th century BC, in Demosthenes and Aeschines, for innocence that knows no evil, the simplicity of the inexperienced.^[1][2][10]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle's Rhetoric speaks of people who measure their neighbours by their own guilelessness.^[2][1] In the Septuagint it is the integrity of the righteous, Job above all, and the Psalms use it too.^[2][10] Philo applies it to Adam and Eve before the fall.^[2] In 1 Clement and the Shepherd of Hermas it is a Christian virtue, joined with simplicity and personified.^[15]

Medieval vernacular Greek still used it for innocence and naivety.^[12]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Aeschines use it for innocence and inexperience.^[1][2][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle's Rhetoric uses it.^[1][2]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it in the Psalms and of Job's integrity.^[10][2]
• 1st century AD – Philo applies it to Adam and Eve.^[2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for innocence and naivety.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Guilelessness, innocence: having no thought of evil.^[1][14][15]
2. Simplicity, naivety from lack of experience.^[2][12]