ἄγνοια

Forms

ᾰ̓́γνοιᾰ (ágnoia) f (genitive ᾰ̓γνοίᾱς); first declension^[1] Also ἀγνοίᾱ in Sophocles, Ionic ἀγνοίη.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know”) + -ία (-íā), an abstract noun of not knowing.^[1][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aeschylus: in the Agamemnon Thyestes eats of the cannibal feast “in ignorance”, and in the Suppliants a man may kill a friend through ignorance.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it could mean failing to recognize a person, and Sophocles has a woman “whom you see but pretend not to know”.^[2][4][3] Thucydides, Xenophon and the orators use it for ignorance of facts that leads to error, and Demosthenes and Polybius for a mistake itself.^[4][2][3] In philosophy Plato and Aristotle set it against ἐπιστήμη (epistḗmē, “knowledge”),^[4] Plato calls it an emptiness of the soul.^[4] Menander brings Ignorance on stage as a deity, and Diphilus and Machon wrote comedies with this title.^[2][3]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is ignorance of God, or a fault committed unknowingly, almost a sin: in Acts Peter tells the people that they acted against Jesus in ignorance.^[5][3] Modern Greek has it as a learned word, Modern Greek άγνοια (ágnia).^[6]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of acting without knowing.^[4][3]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of failing to recognize someone, and Thucydides of ignorance of facts.^[2][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato opposes it to knowledge.^[4]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for a mistake.^[2][3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander brings Ignorance on stage as a deity.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles uses it of those who acted against Jesus unknowingly.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Failure to recognize a person or thing.^[2][4]
2. Ignorance, lack of knowledge or understanding; misconception; in the dative and with prepositions, unknowingly, by inadvertence.^[4][2][3]
3. A mistake, an error of conduct.^[2][3]
4. (personified) Ignorance as a deity.^[2][3]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) Ignorance of God; a fault committed unknowingly.^[5]

Related words

• ἀγνοέω (agnoéō)
• γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō)

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses it with ἀγνωσία (agnōsía) and “lack of learning”, and Photius with “neglect”.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
8. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)