ἀφίστημι

Forms

ἀφίστημῐ (aphístēmi) ^[1] Ionic ἀπίστημι (apístēmi), used by Herodotus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, “away”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to make stand”), “to make stand away”.^[1][4][5] As with the simple verb, the present, imperfect, future and first aorist are transitive (“to put away”), while the second aorist ἀπέστην (apéstēn), the perfect and the middle are intransitive (“to stand away, withdraw”).^[6][3]

The simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, set”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has only the intransitive forms and the middle: a man recoils from a snake (Iliad 3.33), warriors stand far off from the fight, and in the middle the Achaeans are feared to “weigh out” the debt, that is, to pay it back in full (Iliad 13.745).^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

In classical prose the transitive verb means to remove or keep away, to depose a commander and, above all, to cause allies or subjects to revolt; the intransitive forms mean to revolt or secede from a ruler, to stand aloof, to shrink from something or to give way to someone.^[6][3] Herodotus and Thucydides use both often of rebellion.^[6][2] The Hippocratic writers use the middle of a disease that settles in a joint, forming an abscess (in Greek ἀπόστασις (apóstasis)).^[6] In Xenophon and in papyri of the 2nd century BC the transitive verb also means to weigh out or pay a sum.^[6][3]

The Septuagint uses it for removing, departing and keeping far from something.^[9] In the New Testament it is to withdraw or depart, and to fall away from God (Hebrews 3:12); its nouns ἀποστασία (apostasíā) and ἀποστάτης (apostátēs) took the sense of falling away from the faith.^[10][11][12] Coptic borrowed the verb.^[13] Modern Greek keeps the learned middle Modern Greek αφίσταμαι (afístame), “to be far from, to differ greatly”.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for drawing back from danger and, in the middle, for weighing out a debt.^[6][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for causing subjects to revolt and for revolting from a king.^[6][3][2]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use the middle of disease forming an abscess.^[6][2]
• 2nd century BC – A papyrus uses it for paying out a sum of drachmas.^[6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for departing and for falling away from God.^[10][11]
• About AD 900 – A Sahidic Coptic text has the borrowed form Coptic ⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲁ (aposta).^[13]
• Modern Greek – The learned middle αφίσταμαι (afístame) means to be far apart or to differ.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To put away, remove, keep out of the way; to separate one thing from another.^[6][3]
2. To depose a ruler; to keep off an attack.^[3][6]
3. To cause allies or subjects to revolt from someone.^[6][3]
4. To weigh out, pay; in the middle, to weigh out for oneself, have a debt paid in full.^[6][3]
5. (intransitive, middle) To stand away, withdraw, recoil; to stand aloof.^[6][8]
6. To revolt or secede from a ruler or an alliance.^[6][3]
7. To shrink from a thing or from doing it; to give way to someone.^[6]
8. (medicine) Of disease, to settle in one place and form an abscess; of a bone, to come away.^[6]
9. (New Testament) To fall away, apostatize.^[10][11]

Word family

• ἀποστασία (apostasíā)
• ἀποστάτης (apostátēs)
• συναφίστημι (sunaphístēmi)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
5. ^ Strong, James (1890), A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament, in The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, New York: Hunt & Eaton
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
11. ^ 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
12. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
13. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας