ἐξίστημι

Forms

ἐξῐ́στημῐ (exístēmi) ^[1] Koine also ἐξιστάνω.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐκ (ek, “out of”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to make stand”).^[1][4] The verb ἵστημι (hístēmi) belongs to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).^[5]

The present, imperfect, future and first aorist are transitive, “to put out of place”; the middle and passive, with the second aorist and the perfect of the active, are intransitive, “to stand out of place”.^[6][3] Spicq notes that the prefix lends it an unusual variety of meanings across authors and periods.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Empedocles uses the intransitive forms of Strife arising and becoming separate.^[6] In Euripides and Thucydides it already has its main senses.^[8][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek the transitive verb meant to displace or change something utterly, and above all to drive a person out of their senses, and Euripides has wine putting a man out of his mind.^[6][3] The intransitive forms meant to stand aside and make way, as in Herodotus, to shrink from a danger, to give up an office or property, in Thucydides and the orators, and to lose one's senses.^[6][3] Hippocratic writers used it of a joint coming out of its socket.^[6]

The Septuagint and the New Testament use it chiefly for amazement, as when Isaac is struck with great astonishment in Genesis.^[9][2][10] Papyri use the transitive verb for disposing of a person's claims.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Empedocles uses it of Strife arising and separating.^[6][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for standing aside from a road.^[6][11]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for driving someone out of their senses.^[6][3][11]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for giving up a command.^[6][11]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it with the accusative, to shrink from a danger.^[6][11]
• 1st century BC – A papyrus uses it for getting rid of a person's claims.^[6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for changing a constitution.^[6][3][11]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for astonishment.^[2][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To displace; to change utterly.^[6][3]
2. (transitive) To drive someone out of their senses; to amaze, astound.^[6][3][2]
3. (transitive) To get rid of, dispose of (a person's claims).^[6]
4. (intransitive) To stand aside, make way.^[6][3]
5. (intransitive, with the accusative) To shrink from, shun.^[6]
6. (intransitive, medicine) To go out of joint.^[6]
7. (intransitive, with the genitive) To give up, retire from; to abandon; to give up one's property, go bankrupt.^[6]
8. (intransitive) To lose one's senses, be beside oneself; to be astonished.^[6][9][2]

Word family

• παρεξίστημι (parexístēmi)
• συνεξίσταμαι (sunexístamai)

Related words

• ἔκστασις (ékstasis)
• ἐκστατικός (ekstatikós)
• English ecstasy

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
5. ^ Indo-European Lexicon (after Pokorny), Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/lex
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
11. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge