ἀσκητικός

Forms

ἀσκητῐκός (askētikós) m (feminine ἀσκητῐκή, neuter ἀσκητῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀσκητής (askētḗs) + -ικός (-ikós), “of an ἀσκητής (askētḗs)”.^[1][2] The noun, at first a skilled worker or an athlete in training and later a monk or hermit, is from Ancient Greek ἀσκέω (askéō, “to exercise, to train”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, where an ailment is called “athletic”, the kind of complaint an athlete in training suffers from.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Plato's Laws uses it of the arduous life of Spartan women, opposed to idleness, and Philo uses it of persons.^[4][6][5] Philo also speaks of “ascetic” exercises, and in Marcus Aurelius and the Christian writers it means given to spiritual discipline: Basil of Caesarea and Palladius write of the ascetic life.^[6][5] The Atticist lexica gloss it as “fond of learning, philosophic”.^[7][8] Coptic borrowed it as ⲁⲥⲕⲏⲧⲓⲕⲟⲥ (askētikos).^[9]

In medieval vernacular Greek it described what concerns the life of ascetics, and the neuter plural meant ascetic writings.^[10] Modern Greek ασκητικός (askitikós) is a learned word for what belongs to an ascetic, and by extension for a very frugal life or a gaunt face.^[11] The English word ascetic came in the 1640s from a Latinized form of the Greek adjective; the Stoics had applied the Greek word to the control of the appetites as the path to virtue.^[3]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes calls an ailment “athletic” in the Lysistrata, and Plato's Laws uses it of a laborious life.^[4][6]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo uses it of persons and of ascetic exercises.^[5][6]
• 2nd century AD – Marcus Aurelius uses it of a man trained in discipline, and Pollux has the adverb “athletically”.^[6]
• 4th century AD – Basil of Caesarea writes of the ascetic life.^[6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it of the rules and writings of ascetics.^[10]
• 1640s – English ascetic is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or befitting an athlete; of an ailment, such as befalls athletes in training.^[4][5][6]
2. Laborious, arduous, opposed to idle.^[5][4][6]
3. (Koine, Christian) Practising spiritual discipline, ascetic.^[6][5][12]

Related words

• ἀσκητής (askētḗs)
• ἀσκέω (askéō)
• English ascetic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
8. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
9. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica