ἀκροάομαι

Forms

ᾰ̓κροᾰ́ομαι (akroáomai) ^[1]

Etymology

It is commonly derived from a fusion of the phrase “tip of the ear”, from Ancient Greek ἄκρος (ákros, “topmost”) + οὖς (oûs, “ear”), whence “to prick up the ears, be keen to hear”.^[2][1][3] Beekes finds this straightforward in meaning, but notes that some formal difficulties remain and that Szemerényi raised objections.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 5th century BC, in Thucydides and Antiphon, meaning “to listen” to someone or something.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Attic it meant to listen, and in court, of the jurors, to give a hearing to a party.^[5] Thucydides and Lysias also use it for listening obediently, “to heed”.^[5] Plato uses it for listening in order to learn, and Plutarch for attending lectures as a pupil.^[5] In the Septuagint it is used of listening to an account, and later the participle ὁ ἀκροώμενος could mean “the reader”.^[6][2] Its derivatives are ἀκρόασις (akróasis, “hearing, lecture”), ἀκρόαμα (akróama, “thing heard, performance”), ἀκροατής (akroatḗs, “listener, pupil”) and ἀκροατήριον (akroatḗrion, “lecture hall, audience”), the last found in Acts.^[2] Modern Greek keeps it as the learned Modern Greek ακροώμαι (akroómai), “to listen attentively”.^[3]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides and Antiphon use it for listening.^[4][5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for listening in order to learn.^[5][6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for attending lectures.^[5][6]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus uses the participle for a reader.^[2][6]
• Modern Greek – It survives as the learned Modern Greek ακροώμαι (akroómai).^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To listen, be a listener; with the genitive, to listen to a speaker or a song.^[5][6]
2. Of jurors: to give a hearing to a party.^[5]
3. To listen obediently, heed, with the genitive of the person.^[5][2]
4. To attend a teacher; to be a pupil of someone.^[5]

Word family

• ἀκρόασις (akróasis)
• ἀκρόαμα (akróama)
• ἀκροατής (akroatḗs)
• ἀκροατήριον (akroatḗrion)

Related words

• ἄκρος (ákros)
• οὖς (oûs)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge