ἀποκαλύπτω

Forms

ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “off, away”) + καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”).^[1][2]

Beekes considers the simple verb Pre-Greek: its root appears with ⟨β⟩, ⟨π⟩ and ⟨φ⟩, as in καλύβη (kalúbē, “hut”), and neither the ⟨α⟩ nor the ⟨υ⟩ before the labial fits a comparison with Latin cēlō (“to hide”) and Old High German helan (“to hide”).^[3] Etymonline derives it from the Indo-European root of those words, Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to cover, conceal”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus uses it for uncovering the head.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Plato uses it for laying bare something abstract, one's thought or the power of rhetoric, and Aristotle for the raising of the epiglottis.^[4][5] The Septuagint uses it more than a hundred times, for uncovering and for revealing, including mysteries in Daniel.^[6] In the New Testament it is no longer used of uncovering things: it means to make fully known, above all of divine revelation, and in the passive it is said of things hidden that will be revealed and of the man of lawlessness who is to appear.^[7][5][4] Plutarch uses the middle for uncovering one's head and for revealing one's mind, and Lucian uses it for unmasking a person.^[4][5] Its noun gave English apocalypse through Church Latin.^[2]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it, also as επικαλύπτω (epikalýpto), for making something known and of God revealing his grace.^[8] Modern Greek αποκαλύπτω (apokalýpto) is learned; its sense of making a fact public is partly modelled on English reveal.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for uncovering the head.^[4][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for disclosing one's thought.^[4][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the passive of the raising of the epiglottis.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for divine revelation.^[7][5]
• 1st–2nd century AD – A papyrus uses the passive for farmland left bare as the Nile falls.^[4][5]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it for unmasking a person.^[4][5]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it, also as επικαλύπτω (epikalýpto), for making something known.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The learned αποκαλύπτω (apokalýpto) means to reveal or bring to light.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To uncover, of the head or breast; in the passive, of land left bare by the Nile.^[4][5]
2. To disclose, reveal one's thought or a hidden thing; in the Septuagint and the New Testament, of divine revelation.^[4][5][7][6]
3. To unmask a person; in the passive, to be exposed.^[4][5]
4. (middle) To uncover one's head; to reveal oneself, appear.^[5][4]
5. (passive, anatomy) Of the epiglottis, to be raised.^[4]

Word family

• ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis)

Related words

• καλύπτω (kalúptō)
• ἀνακαλύπτω (anakalúptō)
• καλύβη (kalúbē)
• English apocalypse

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki