ἀποτίθημι

Forms

ἀποτίθημῐ (apotíthēmi) ^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, “away, off”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”).^[1][2] The simple verb τίθημι (títhēmi) goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[4][5] In the Iliad a cup is put away in a chest, and the middle is used of warriors laying their armour down on the ground; the middle also means to rid oneself of a reproach.^[6][7][5]

Semantic evolution

The active means to put something away or stow it, and in Plato to expose a newborn child.^[6][7] Most uses are in the middle, "put away from oneself": to take off clothing (Herodotus, of a Scythian's dress), to lay aside a law, anger or idleness, to put by provisions for oneself, and to put off a matter to another time.^[6][7] Callimachus uses it of a woman delivering a child, and Aristotle of parents who expose none of their children.^[6][7] Late writers use it for setting a fracture, and Philoponus figuratively for filing something away under a class.^[6]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament the middle is to take off clothes and, figuratively, to put away the works of darkness, falsehood, anger and wickedness, and to put off "the old man".^[8] Ancient ἀποτίθημι did not survive in the vernacular: medieval Greek remade it as Byzantine Greek αποθέτω (apothéto) on the model of θέτω (thétō), which Modern Greek keeps as αποθέτω (apothéto) "lay down, deposit", partly with senses taken from French.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of putting a cup away and, in the middle, of laying arms aside.^[6][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the middle of taking off clothing.^[6][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the active of exposing a child and the middle of deferring a question.^[6][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of birds storing food for their young.^[6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses the middle figuratively of putting off vices and "the old man".^[8]
• Middle Ages – The verb is remade as αποθέτω (apothéto) after θέτω (théto).^[9][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (active) To put away, stow away, deposit (sometimes in a container or a prison).^[6][7]
2. (active) To expose a newborn child.^[6]
3. (middle) To take off clothing; to cut off one's hair in mourning.^[7][6]
4. (middle) To lay down or lay aside arms or baggage; figuratively, to set aside a law, anger or idleness, or to give up an office.^[6][7][8]
5. (middle) To rid oneself of a reproach or misfortune, to avoid it.^[6]
6. (middle) To put by for oneself, store up money or food; to keep in reserve.^[7][6]
7. (middle) To put off, defer to another time.^[6]
8. (middle) Of a woman, to give birth.^[7][6]
9. To bury.^[6][7]
10. (medicine) To set a fracture.^[6]

Word family

• ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē)
• ἀποθετικός (apothetikós)
• ἀπόθεσις (apóthesis)

Related words

• τίθημι (títhēmi)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge