ἀνέκδοτος

Forms

ἀνέκδοτος (anékdotos) m or f (neuter ἀνέκδοτον); second declension^[1] Arcadian ἀνέσδοτος (anésdotos), in an inscription from Tegea of the 4th century BC.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-, “not”) + ἔκδοτος (ékdotos, “given out”), the privative prefix with the verbal adjective of ἐκδίδωμι (ekdídōmi, “to give out; to give in marriage; to publish”).^[1][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in the Attic orators, beginning with Lysias, of a daughter or sister not yet given in marriage, unmarried.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The orators Isaeus, Demosthenes and Hyperides use it in the same family sense, and Hyperides speaks of a girl growing old unmarried at home.^[2][3] From the other sense of ἐκδίδωμι, “to publish”, Diodorus Siculus calls books not yet issued ἀνέκδοτοι, and Cicero uses the Greek word in a letter; a medical writer of the 2nd century AD uses it of a secret remedy.^[2][3]

The neuter plural ἀνέκδοτα, “unpublished things”, was the title of Procopius's 6th-century secret history of Justinian, full of court gossip; through it the word came to mean the revelation of private matters.^[6] English anecdote (1670s), taken from anecdote in French or from Medieval Latin, meant first such secret stories and only later a short amusing tale.^[6] Modern Greek uses ανέκδοτος (anékdotos) for unpublished writings, and the neuter ανέκδοτο (anékdoto), on the model of French anecdote, for an anecdote or a joke.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Lysias uses it of girls not given in marriage.^[2][3][5]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Hyperides use it in the same sense.^[2][3]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus uses it of unpublished books.^[2][3]
• 2nd century AD – Philumenus uses it of a secret remedy.^[2][3]
• 6th century AD – Procopius's secret history is known as the Anecdota.^[6]
• 1670s – English takes anecdote from French or Medieval Latin.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not given in marriage, unmarried, of a girl.^[2][3][4]
2. Unpublished, not yet issued, of books.^[2][3]
3. Kept secret, of a remedy.^[2][3]

Related words

• ἐκδίδωμι (ekdídōmi)
• ἔκδοτος (ékdotos)
• French anecdote
• English anecdote

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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
5. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki