ἐκστατικός

Forms

ἐκστᾰτῐκός (ekstatikós) m (feminine ἐκστᾰτῐκή, neuter ἐκστᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐξίστημι (exístēmi, “to put out of place; to be beside oneself”) + -τικός (-tikós), the verb from which ἔκστασις (ékstasis) also comes.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary also analyses it as ἐκ- (ek-) with στατικός (statikós).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristotle is the first to use it: in the Nicomachean Ethics a person who is liable to abandon a reasoned conclusion is the opposite of one who abides by it, ἐμμενετικός (emmenetikós).^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle also uses it of animals that are excitable through anger, and of people out of their senses, such as the mad Ajax.^[5][6][7] An active sense, “causing displacement or change”, appears in his Physics, where every change is said to displace by its nature, and later in Plutarch and Plotinus, who calls alteration a displacing motion.^[6][5] Theophrastus applies it to roots that drive people mad.^[5][6] The word was never common: GLAUx counts 34 occurrences, most of them in the 4th century BC and the 1st century AD.^[8]

A vernacular text of the Middle Ages uses it for “astonished”.^[9] Modern Greek εκστατικός (ekstatikós) is a learned revival of the ancient word, influenced by the sense of έκσταση (ékstasi), and means “rapt, in ecstasy”.^[10] The English word ecstatic was taken from the Greek in the 1590s, meaning “mystically absorbed”; the sense “subject to intense emotions” followed in the 1660s.^[11]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of people who abandon a conclusion and of people out of their senses.^[5][6][7]
• 4th to 3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of roots that cause madness.^[5][6]
• 1st to 2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the adverb for being beside oneself.^[5][6]
• 3rd century AD – Plotinus calls alteration a displacing motion.^[5][6]
• 1100–1669 – A vernacular text uses it for “astonished”.^[9]
• 1590s – The English word ecstatic is first recorded, meaning “mystically absorbed”.^[11]
• 1660s – The English word takes on the sense “subject to intense emotions”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Inclined to depart from or abandon something (with the genitive), such as a reasoned conclusion or an opinion.^[5][7][6]
2. Excitable; out of one's senses, deranged.^[5][7][6]
3. Causing change or displacement.^[5][6]
4. Causing mental derangement.^[5][6]

Related words

• ἔκστασις (ékstasis)
• ἐξίστημι (exístēmi)
• English ecstatic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Woordenboek Grieks/Nederlands (2012–), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, https://woordenboekgrieks.nl
4. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com