ἄγνωστος

Forms

ᾰ̓́γνωστος (ágnōstos) m or f (neuter ᾰ̓́γνωστον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + γνωστός (gnōstós, “known”).^[1][2] Beekes and Frisk note that the verbal adjective of γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know”) is γνωτός (gnōtós) in the Iliad, usually with an added ⟨σ⟩ (as in this compound), which Frisk calls analogical, and both cite ἄγνωστος from the Odyssey.^[2][3] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to recognize, get to know”), and the older verbal adjective matches Latin nōtus (“known”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Odyssey it means “unknown, unnoticed”, of Odysseus coming home unrecognized by all, and “not to be recognized”, of Athena making him unrecognizable.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Mimnermus uses it of what is forgotten, and Euripides of an unknown land.^[5][6] Thucydides calls a people “most unintelligible in tongue”.^[5] In philosophy it became “unknowable”: in Plato's Theaetetus the elements are without account and unknowable, and for Aristotle matter is unknowable in itself.^[5] Pindar has an active sense, “not knowing”.^[5]

The Athenians honoured “unknown gods”, as Pausanias records, and Acts tells of an altar inscribed “to an unknown god” in Athens.^[5][7][8] Coptic borrowed the word.^[9] The active sense lived on in vernacular medieval Greek, where it meant ignorant, senseless or foolish.^[10] Modern Greek άγνωστος (ágnostos) “unknown” continues the ancient word, one sense being a learned loan from French inconnu.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for unknown and for not to be recognized.^[4][5]
• 6th century BC – Mimnermus uses it of what is forgotten.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it actively, of one who knows nothing of lies.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Euripides speaks of an unknown land, and Thucydides of an unintelligible tongue.^[5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for unknowable.^[5][6]
• 1st century AD – Acts tells of an Athenian altar to an unknown god.^[7][5]
• 2nd century AD – Pausanias mentions altars of gods called unknown.^[5][6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for ignorant or foolish.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The word άγνωστος (ágnostos) means unknown.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Unknown, unnoticed; unheard of, forgotten; unfamiliar.^[5][6]
2. Not to be recognized; unintelligible.^[5][4]
3. (philosophy) Not an object of knowledge, unknowable.^[5]
4. As the name of a divinity at Athens, the Unknown (god).^[5][7]
5. (active) Not knowing, ignorant of something.^[5]

Related words

• γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō)
• γνωστός (gnōstós)
• Latin nōtus

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses it both as “one not recognized” and as “not obeying”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
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. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)