ἀπάγω

Forms

ἀπάγω (apágō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from”) + ἄγω (ágō, “to lead, drive”).^[1][2] ἄγω (ágō) is an old thematic present of the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”), like Latin agō and Old Norse aka.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to lead or drive off, as suitors drive off cattle and sheep (Odyssey 18.278: ἀπάγουσι βόας καὶ ἴφια μῆλα), and to bring someone back or home (Iliad 15.706, 18.326).^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Babiniotis traces the senses from “to remove” to “to carry off, seize”, already in ancient Greek.^[2] The middle meant to take away for oneself, especially a bride (Pindar, Herodotus).^[7][6][8] In military use it was to lead troops away, and intransitively to withdraw (Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon).^[5] In Attic law it became a technical term: to arrest a wrongdoer and bring him before a magistrate (the procedure called ἀπαγωγή (apagōgḗ)), or to carry someone off to prison (Antiphon, Aristophanes, Plato, Demosthenes).^[5][7] Plato uses it of leading a hearer away from the truth by sophistry, and Aristotle of reducing an argument to the impossible.^[5] The imperative ἄπαγε was used in comedy for “be off!”.^[7]

In the New Testament it is used of leading an animal to water and of taking a prisoner before a judge or away to execution.^[9][7] The Modern Greek απάγω (apágo) is learned and means “to abduct”, to seize someone by force and hold him for a ransom.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for driving off cattle and bringing someone home.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the middle of taking away a bride.^[8][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it of leading troops away.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it as a legal term, to arrest and bring before a magistrate.^[5][7][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of reducing an argument to the impossible.^[5][6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of bringing a prisoner before Caiaphas.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned απάγω (apágo) means “to abduct”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lead away, drive off (animals); to carry off, remove.^[5][7]
2. (middle) To take away for oneself, especially a bride.^[5][7]
3. To bring back, bring home.^[5][4]
4. To lead away (troops); (intransitive) to withdraw.^[5]
5. To abduct.^[5]
6. (law) To arrest and bring before a magistrate; to carry off to prison.^[5][7][9]
7. To lead away (from the subject), divert by sophistry.^[5]
8. (logic) To reduce (to the impossible).^[5]
9. (imperative) ἄπαγε, be off!^[7]
10. (passive) To be brought to a point, taper.^[5]

Word family

• ἀπαγωγή (apagōgḗ)

Related words

• ἄγω (ágō)
• Modern Greek απάγω (apágo)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki