ἀνάλυσις

Forms

ᾰ̓νᾰ́λῠσῐς (análusis) f (genitive ᾰ̓νᾰλῠ́σεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀναλύω (analúō, “to unloose”) + -σις (-sis).^[1][2] The verb is made of ἀνά (aná, “up, back”) and λύω (lúō, “to loosen”),^[3] which Beekes traces to Proto-Indo-European *leh₁u- (“to cut off, release”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest text with it is Sophocles' Electra, where it means a release from evils.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle used it for the breaking up of a whole into its first principles, the opposite of σύνθεσις (súnthesis): “what is last in the analysis is first in the coming-into-being”.^[7][5] In his logic it is the reduction of the imperfect figures of the syllogism to the perfect one, and in the mathematicians from Archimedes and Apollonius of Perga to Pappus and Proclus it is the method of working back from a problem to its conditions.^[5][7][2] It also meant dissolving in general, and in Plutarch the solution of a problem.^[5][7]

Used from the passive verb, it meant going back, then a departure, as in Josephus, and, as a euphemism, death: in 2 Timothy the writer says that the time of his departure has come.^[5][8][9] Wulfila's Gothic rendered it word for word.^[10] The word reached English analysis in the 1580s through Medieval Latin.^[3] Modern Greek ανάλυση (análysi) is learned; its grammatical sense, the breaking of a word into its elements, is Hellenistic, and its other modern senses follow French analyse.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for release from evils.^[5][2][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for analysis, opposed to synthesis, and for the reduction of syllogisms.^[5][7]
• 3rd century BC – Archimedes uses it for geometrical analysis.^[7]
• 1st century AD – Josephus uses it for a departure, and 2 Timothy for death.^[5][8][7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the solution of a problem.^[5][2][7]
• 1580s – English analysis is borrowed through Medieval Latin.^[3]
• Modern Greek – The learned ανάλυση (análysi) means analysis.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loosing, release.^[5][2][7]
2. Dissolution, breaking up into elements.^[5][7]
3. Analysis: resolving a whole or a problem into its principles or conditions, opposed to synthesis, especially in mathematics.^[5][2][7]
4. (logic) In Aristotle, the reduction of the imperfect figures of the syllogism to the perfect one.^[5]
5. The solution of a problem.^[5][2]
6. Going back, departure, and as a euphemism, death.^[5][8][9]

Word family

• ἀναλυτικός (analutikós)

Related words

• λύσις (lúsis)
• λύω (lúō)
• Latin analysis
• English analysis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
10. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki