ἐπίσκοπος

Forms

ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos) m (genitive ἐπισκόπου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπι- (epi-, “upon, over”) + σκοπός (skopós, “watcher, lookout”), “one who watches over”.^[1][2][3] The second element belongs to the family of σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at, consider”).^[2] The Etymologicum Magnum explains it as the one who is set to keep watch.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it names a man sent to spy on the Trojans or on the Greek ships, Hector as the protector of Troy, and the gods as watchers over sworn agreements.^[2][5] In the Odyssey a trader keen on his cargoes is called an ἐπίσκοπος of them.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In archaic and classical poetry the word is above all used of tutelary gods: Solon calls Pallas Athena the guardian of Athens, Pindar the Graces the guardians of the Minyans, and Aeschylus speaks of the gods who watch over the market place and the house.^[5][6] In Athenian usage it became an official title: Aristophanes' Birds has an inspector sent by Athens to its subject cities, and Plato uses it of supervisors and tutors in the Laws.^[5][7] Hellenistic inscriptions from Rhodes give the title to municipal officials, and the Septuagint uses it of overseers and supervisors.^[5][8][9]

In the New Testament Christ is the “guardian of souls”, and the word names the overseers of the Christian communities, named beside the deacons; in the later letters it becomes the title of the head of a church, the bishop.^{[7][9][10][3]} With this meaning it passed into Latin episcopus, Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍀𐌹𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍀𐌿𐍃 (aipiskaupus) and Coptic ⲉⲡⲓⲥⲕⲟⲡⲟⲥ (episkopos).^[1][11] Medieval vernacular Greek kept it for the bishop, also in the shortened form ’πίσκοπος (’pískopos).^[12] Modern Greek επίσκοπος (epískopos) is a learned continuation of the Hellenistic word and means a bishop.^[13][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of scouts, of Hector as Troy's protector and of the gods as watchers over agreements.^[2][5]
• 7th–6th century BC – Solon calls Pallas Athena the city's guardian.^[5][14]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of a guard set over a corpse.^[5][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of an inspector sent by Athens to subject cities.^[5][7][14]
• 2nd–1st century BC – Inscriptions from Rhodes give it as the title of municipal officials.^[5][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of Christ as guardian of souls and of the overseers of the churches.^[7][9]
• AD 364 – The earliest dated Coptic manuscript with the borrowed word.^[11]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for a bishop.^[12]
• Modern Greek – επίσκοπος (epískopos) is the usual word for a bishop.^[13][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who watches over something, a guardian or protector, especially of gods guarding a city, a house or an agreement.^[5][2][6]
2. A scout or spy set to watch someone (with the dative).^[5][2]
3. An overseer or inspector: an official sent by Athens to subject cities, a municipal officer, a supervisor; in Plato, a tutor.^[5][7][8]
4. (Christianity) An overseer of a Christian community; later a bishop.^[7][9][10]

Word family

• χωρεπίσκοπος (khōrepískopos)

Related words

• σκοπός (skopós)
• σκέπτομαι (sképtomai)
• ἐπισκοπέω (episkopéō)
• Latin episcopus

Usage notes

A separate adjective ἐπίσκοπος, formed from σκοπός (skopós) in the sense “target”, means “hitting the mark”, as in Herodotus' ἐπίσκοπα τοξεύειν “to shoot with good aim”.^{[5][15][16][17]} Hesychius glosses the noun with “king”, “guard”, “overseer” and “spy”.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
3. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b c d Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
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 Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
15. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
16. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
17. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
18. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)