ἀφορισμός

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.pʰo.riz.mós/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /a.ɸo.rizˈmos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /a.fo.rizˈmos/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓φορῐσμός (aphorismós) m (genitive ᾰ̓φορῐσμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ἀφορίζω (aphorízō, “to mark off, separate”) with the suffix -μός (-mós).^[1] The verb is formed from ἀπο- (apo-, “off”) and ὁρίζω (horízō, “to bound, define”), from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Critias already uses it for a pithy sentence, an aphorism, and Aristotle's Categories for determination.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense was the marking of boundaries, a land survey, as in papyri from the 2nd century BC and Delphic inscriptions.^[4][3] Theophrastus uses it for separation or distinction, for the attainment of definiteness, and for a fixed rule; from “definition” came “a short definition”, and so the pithy sayings of the Hippocratic Aphorisms, a term Philo and Hermogenes use.^[3][4] The Septuagint uses it for an offering set apart, and John Lydus for banishment, translating Latin relegatio.^[5][3]

Latin borrowed it as aphorismus.^[1] In Christian Greek it became the church's sentence of separation, excommunication, which is its main sense in Modern Greek αφορισμός (aforismós); as a learned word it is also a dogmatic pronouncement made without proof.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC (probably) – Critias uses it for an aphorism.^[3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for determination.^[3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for distinction and for a fixed rule.^[3]
• 2nd century BC – A papyrus uses it for a land survey.^[4]
• 6th century AD – John Lydus uses it for banishment.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Delimitation, the marking of boundaries; a land survey.^[3][4]
2. Separation, distinction, or (later) banishment.^[3]
3. Determination; definition.^[3][1]
4. A pithy sentence, an aphorism, such as those of Hippocrates.^[3]
5. A fixed rule.^[3]
6. (Septuagint) An offering set apart.^[5]
7. (Christian) excommunication.^[6]

Related words

• ἀφορίζω (aphorízō)
• ὁρίζω (horízō)
• ὅρος (hóros)
• Latin aphorismus
• English aphorism

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki