ἄφεσις

Forms

ἄφεσῐς (áphesis) f (genitive ἀφέσεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀφίημι (aphī́ēmi, “to let go, send away”) + -σις (-sis), an action noun on the root of the verb.^[1][2][3] Babiniotis notes that its stem shows the reduced grade of the root of ἵημι (hī́ēmi, “to throw, send”), as in ἄνεσις (ánesis) beside ἀνίημι (aníēmi) and ἔνεσις (énesis) beside ἐνίημι (eníēmi); the verb itself is ἀπό (apó) with the simple verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest texts that have it are medical and legal.^[5][6] The Hippocratic writers (5th century BC) use it for a discharge of the body, such as the passing of wind,^[5][6] and the remission or resolution of a fever.^[5] In Isocrates and Plato it is the dropping of a charge or the release from guilt, as when Plato's Laws speak of a father forgiving a son's homicide.^[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The noun follows the many senses of its verb.^[3][6] In the 4th century BC it is the release of ships (in a letter of Philip quoted by Demosthenes), the release of captives and slaves, a leave or exemption from an office or from service, and in Demosthenes a settlement or remission of a debt or of interest.^[3][2][6] Aristotle uses it of the laying of eggs and the swarming of bees, and later writers of the discharge of missiles.^[5] In athletics it was the starting point of a race.^[6] In the papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt it is the letting of water into the fields and, concretely, a sluice or channel, and “land in ἄφεσις” was land released by the state into private hands, an expression whose exact sense is disputed.^[2][5][6]

The Septuagint uses it for the release of the land in the sabbatical year and the jubilee, the cancellation of debts and the sending away of the scapegoat.^[7][6] In the New Testament it means release from captivity (in Luke's quotation of Isaiah) and, above all, the forgiveness of sins.^[8][3] Babiniotis dates this sense of forgiveness to the Hellenistic period; the older senses of release and freedom from an obligation go back to classical Greek.^[4] Medieval Greek kept the word,^[9] and the modern άφεση (áfesi) is a learned form, used chiefly of the forgiveness of sins and of release from an obligation.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it of the discharge of wind and the remission of fever.^[5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates uses it of dropping a legal charge, and Plato of forgiveness for a homicide.^[5][3]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it of the release of ships and of the remission of a debt, and Aristotle of the laying of eggs.^[3][5][6]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri from Egypt use it of letting water out onto the fields.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of the release of captives and the discharge of missiles.^[3][5]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of exemption from military service and of a bill of divorce.^[3]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular medieval Greek still uses the word.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned word άφεση (áfesi) means forgiveness, especially of sins, and release from an obligation.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Release, letting go: of captives, ships, slaves.^[3][2]
2. Dropping of a legal charge; remission of a debt or of interest; acquittal.^[3][5]
3. Release from duties: leave of absence, relief from an office, exemption from military service.^[3]
4. A bill of divorce.^[3][6]
5. Sending forth, discharge of a missile; the launching of ships.^[3][5]
6. (medicine) A discharge from the body; remission of a fever.^[5]
7. (papyri) The letting out of water for irrigation; a sluice or channel.^[5][6]
8. (athletics) The starting point of a race.^[6]
9. (Koine) forgiveness of sins.^[8][3]

Word family

• ἀφέσιμος (aphésimos)

Related words

• ἀφίημι (aphī́ēmi)
• ἄνεσις (ánesis)
• ἔνεσις (énesis)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki