ἀπώλεια

Forms

ἀπώλεια (apṓleia) f (genitive ἀπωλείᾱς); first declension^[1] Ionic ἀπωλείη.^[2][3] Variant spellings ἀπωλία (Plato Comicus, an inscription of Ephesus) and ἀπωλήα (a papyrus of the 1st century BC).^[4]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀπόλλυμι (apóllumi, “to destroy; to lose”), from whose stem it is formed as an abstract noun.^[1][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest texts with the word are in the Hippocratic corpus (5th century BC), where a disease that keeps relapsing is the cause of death.^[5][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle uses it for the destruction of things and of whole peoples, and for the loss of property, as by theft.^[7][4] Polybius sets it against τήρησις (tḗrēsis, “keeping”), in the sense of wasting one's means, and uses it for the ruin of cities and armies.^[7][1][4] Papyri of the 1st century BC use it in contracts for the loss of goods.^[4]

In the Septuagint it is frequent for ruin, and once for a thing that has been lost.^[8][7] In the New Testament it is both the “waste” of ointment in Mark and, above all, perdition, the eternal ruin set against salvation: the broad way “leads to destruction”.^[9][4][10]

Medieval Greek kept the word with its ancient meaning.^[11] The modern Modern Greek απώλεια (apóleia) is a learned word for loss in general (of territory, time, blood, a person), whose wider use follows French perte.^[12][5]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic corpus uses the Ionic form for death from disease.^[5][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for destruction and for the loss of property.^[7][4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for waste, as opposed to keeping, and for ruin.^[7][1]
• 1st century BC – Papyri use it for the loss of goods.^[4][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for waste and for eternal perdition.^[9][13]
• 2nd century AD – Diogenes of Oenoanda speaks of the loss of time.^[4][7]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek keeps the word.^[11]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for loss.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Destruction, ruin, of persons, cities or peoples.^[7][1][4]
2. Death, especially a violent death.^[4]
3. Loss, as of property by theft, or of time.^[7][4]
4. Waste, squandering, as opposed to keeping.^[1][9]
5. (Septuagint) A thing lost.^[7][8]
6. (New Testament) Perdition, eternal ruin.^[7][9][13]

Related words

• ἀπόλλυμι (apóllumi)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
3. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Thayer, Joseph Henry (1889), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book Company
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.