ἀντίθεσις

Forms

ᾰ̓ντῐ́θεσῐς (antíthesis) f (genitive ᾰ̓ντῐθέσεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀντιτίθημι (antitíthēmi, “to set against”) with the action-noun suffix -σις (-sis),^[1][2] the verb being made of ἀντί (antí, “against”) and τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato's Sophist uses it for the opposition of one form to another, of being to being, and Isocrates uses it as a term of rhetoric.^[5][6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle used it widely: of the thumb set opposite the rest of the hand, of the opposition of propositions in logic, and, like Isocrates, of the rhetorical figure that sets contrasting words side by side.^[5][6][2] Later rhetoricians used it for a counter-proposition in forensic speeches, grammarians for the change of one letter for another, and the epigrammatist Strato for physical resistance.^[5][6] In the New Testament the “contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge” in 1 Timothy are ἀντιθέσεις.^[3]

Late Latin took the word as Latin antithesis, and English borrowed it in the 1520s as a term of rhetoric.^[8][4] The learned Modern Greek αντίθεση (antíthesi) has also taken one of its senses from German Antithese, a semantic loan.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for opposition, and Isocrates for the rhetorical figure.^[5][6][2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of logical opposition and of rhetorical antithesis.^[5][2]
• 1st century AD – In the New Testament (1 Timothy) it means contradictions.^[3]
• 2nd century AD – Hermogenes uses it for a counter-proposition in forensic oratory.^[5][6]
• 1520s – English borrows antithesis through Late Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned αντίθεση (antíthesi) adds the sense of German Antithese.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Opposition, a setting of one thing against another; a corresponding or opposite position.^[5][2][6]
2. Resistance, rejection.^[5][6]
3. (logic) Opposition of propositions; the substitution of the contradictory term.^[5]
4. (rhetoric) Antithesis; in forensic speech, a counter-proposition.^[5][2]
5. (New Testament) A contradiction.^[3]
6. (grammar) The change or transposition of a letter.^[5]

Related words

• θέσις (thésis)
• Latin antithesis
• English antithesis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
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
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki