ἀρχέτυπον

Forms

ἀρχέτῠπον (arkhétupon) n (genitive ἀρχετύπου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the adjective from Ancient Greek ἀρχέτυπος (arkhétupos, “first-moulded as a pattern”) used as a noun in the neuter.^[2][3][4] The adjective combines ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin, be first”) or ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning”) with τύπος (túpos, “impression, model”).^[5][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first found in the 1st century BC.^[3][7] Cicero uses the Greek word in his letters to Atticus for the original copy of a book, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus sets the original against a copy, ἀπόγραφον (apógraphon).^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant the original from which copies are made: the master copy of a book, the model of a statue or a picture, a portrait taken from life.^[3][2] Lucian uses it for the original seal whose impression a forger copied.^[2][3] Philosophers made it the model of which visible things are images: Philo speaks of the archetypal seal, and Plotinus, Porphyry and Proclus oppose the archetype to its image.^[2][3] The Stoic grammarians called the nominative case the archetype of the other cases.^[2][3] Later lexica explain it by πρωτότυπον (prōtótupon), “original”.^[8][9][10]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word,^[11] and Modern Greek uses αρχέτυπο (archétypo) as a learned word for a model; its senses in philology (the lost manuscript from which all surviving copies descend) and in psychology follow German Archetyp.^[12] Latin took it as archetypum, the source of English archetype.^[4][13]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – Cicero uses the Greek word for the original copy of a book, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus opposes it to a copy.^[3][2]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo uses the adjective of the original seal and pattern of creation.^[2][3][7]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it for the original of a seal and of a painting.^[2][3]
• 3rd century AD – Plotinus and Porphyry use it for the model of which a thing is an image.^[2][3]
• 5th century AD – Proclus calls the invisible things the archetypes of the visible ones.^[3]
• Modern Greek – The learned word αρχέτυπο (archétypo) takes the senses of German Archetyp in philology and psychology.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. An original, pattern or model, as opposed to a copy: the master copy of a book, the original of a statue or picture.^[2][3][14]
2. The original figure of a seal.^[2][14]
3. A portrait taken from life.^[2][3]
4. (philosophy) The model or archetype of which visible things are images.^[2][3]
5. (grammar) The nominative case, as the original of the other cases.^[2][3]

Word family

• ἀρχέτυπος (arkhétupos)

Related words

• πρωτότυπον (prōtótupon)
• Latin archetypum
• English archetype

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
10. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
11. ^ 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
14. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press