ἀπολογητικός

Forms

ᾰ̓πολογητῐκός (apologētikós) m (feminine ᾰ̓πολογητῐκή, neuter ᾰ̓πολογητῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀπολογέομαι (apologéomai, “to speak in one's defence”) + -τικός (-tikós), the suffix of adjectives of ability.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Rhetorica ad Alexandrum, a 4th-century BC rhetorical handbook transmitted with Aristotle's works, uses it of the kind of speech that is suited to defence.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare in pagan Greek: the GLAUx corpus has it only in the Rhetorica ad Alexandrum.^[4] Christian authors used it as a noun for a defence of the faith or of oneself, as the title of their works: Athanasius' second Apology and a speech of Gregory of Nazianzus to his father.^[6] It was taken over as Latin apologeticum, a title that Jerome and Isidore use.^[6]

In Modern Greek, απολογητικός (apologitikós) is a learned word: it means "apologetic" in its new senses after French apologétique and Medieval Latin apologeticus, which go back to the ancient adjective "suitable for defence".^[7]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – The Rhetorica ad Alexandrum speaks of the speech of defence with this adjective.^[3][4]
• 4th century AD – Athanasius and Gregory of Nazianzus give the title to Christian works of defence.^[6]
• 4th–5th century AD – Jerome and Isidore use apologeticum in Latin as a title.^[6]
• Modern Greek – The learned απολογητικός (apologitikós) follows the senses of apologétique in French.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Suitable for defence; apologetic, of a speech.^[3][5][8]
2. (Christian, as a noun) A written defence, as the title of a work.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
6. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli