Etymologically
Log in

ἀπάθεια

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.pá.tʰeː.a/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /aˈpa.θi.a/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /aˈpa.θi.a/[1]

Forms

ἀπᾰ́θεια (apátheia) f (genitive ἀπᾰθείᾱς); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ἀπαθής (apathḗs, “not suffering, without feeling”) with the abstract suffix -ια (-ia).[1][2] Ἀπαθής is formed from the privative prefix and the root of πάθος (páthos, “experience, suffering”).[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristotle uses it of things, for their capacity not to be affected or changed, and of persons, for insensibility.[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Aristotle the virtues were sometimes defined as apatheiai, freedom from passions, and he also uses the word in a bad sense, for indifference to disgrace.[4][3] The Platonic Definitions describe it as the state in which we do not fall into passions.[4] For the Stoics it was the ideal of the wise man, freedom from emotion, and Dionysius the Stoic, Epictetus, Philo and Plutarch use it so; some Stoics spelled it ἀπαθία.[3][4][2] Theophrastus uses it for insensibility to harm, and Plutarch for freedom from suffering.[3][2]

Latin borrowed it as apathīa.[1] Modern Greek απάθεια (apátheia) is indifference, a lack of emotion or reaction.[5]

Timeline

  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for impassibility and insensibility.[3][4]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for insensibility to evils.[3][4]
  • 3rd century BC – Dionysius the Stoic writes on it.[4]
  • 1st–2nd century AD – Epictetus and Plutarch use it for Stoic freedom from emotion.[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Impassibility, the capacity not to be affected or changed.[2][3]
  2. Insensibility; indifference, in a bad sense.[3][2]
  3. (Stoicism) Freedom from emotion, dispassionateness.[3][2]
  4. Freedom from suffering or injury.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  5. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki