ἐμφατικός

Forms

ἐμφᾰτῐκός (emphatikós) m (feminine ἐμφᾰτῐκή, neuter ἐμφᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “appearance, significance”) with the suffix -τικός (-tikós).^[1] Köbler and Etymonline trace it to the verb ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō) “to show, indicate”, from whose stem the noun is also formed.^[2][3] In the manuscripts it often alternates with ἐμφαντικός (emphantikós), built on the same verb, and Etymonline treats it as a variant of that word.^[4][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first attested in the Epicurean Philodemus, of the 1st century BC, meaning “forcible, expressive”, of poetic diction.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric and literary criticism it described words that suggest more than they say: the treatise On Style ascribed to Demetrius calls one verb “more expressive” than another.^[5][4] Of signs and symbols it meant “indicative, significant”, as in Ptolemy's astronomy, and grammarians such as Apollonius Dyscolus used it with a genitive for forms “expressing” person or time.^[5] The adverb meant “suggestively” and then “emphatically, with force”, in Galen and Sextus Empiricus.^[5][4]

English emphatic (1708) comes from its Latinized form, and many European languages borrowed it too.^[3][1] Modern Greek εμφατικός (emfatikós) is a learned revival meaning “spoken with emphasis”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses the adjective and the adverb of expressive poetic language.^[4][5]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses it of forms that express person, and Galen uses the adverb for “forcefully”.^[5][7]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Sextus Empiricus says certain verb forms “express” time.^[5]
• 1708 – English emphatic is first recorded.^[3]
• Modern Greek – The learned εμφατικός means “emphatic”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (rhetoric) forcible, expressive: suggesting more than the words themselves say.^[4][5]
2. Of signs: indicative, significant, and (grammar, with genitive) expressing (person, time).^[5]
3. (adverb ἐμφατικῶς) Suggestively; emphatically, with force.^[5][4]

Related words

• ἔμφασις (émphasis)
• ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō)
• English emphatic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux