Etymologically
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ἐπίσταμαι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /e.pís.ta.mai̯/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /eˈpis.ta.mɛ/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /eˈpis.ta.me/[1]

Forms

ἐπῐ́στᾰμαι (epístamai) [1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí) + ἵσταμαι (hístamai, “to stand”), from earlier *ἐπιhίσταμαι (*epihístamai), with early loss of the /h/ and contraction of the vowels.[2][1][3] The second part goes back to Proto-Indo-European *si-steh₂- (“to stand”).[2] The meaning developed from “to stand before something” to “to be faced with it” and so “to come to know it”.[2] Old High German firstān and Old English forstandan made the same shift from standing to understanding.[2][1] Once separated from the simple verb in form, it no longer served for “to stand at”, and Homer already has a new verb ἐφίσταμαι (ephístamai) for that.[2] Others take it to be an old formation without reduplication, or, with Brugmann and Delbrück, a recent present made from aorist forms such as ἐπιστάμενος (epistámenos).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on; at first it means “to know how, be skilled”, as in ἐπιστάμενος ἄκοντι “skilled with the javelin” in the Iliad, and Homer uses it of skill in handicrafts.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the 7th century BC it means to be versed in or acquainted with something, as Archilochus says of the Muses' gifts, and in Herodotus and tragedy simply “to know” a fact.[3] Heraclitus and Herodotus also use it for “to believe, feel sure”, often of a mistaken belief.[2][3] Its derivatives became central words of Greek thought: ἐπιστήμων (epistḗmōn, “knowing, expert”) (Odyssey), ἐπιστήμη (epistḗmē, “knowledge, understanding”) (Ionic-Attic) and ἐπιστητός (epistētós, “knowable”) (Plato, Aristotle).[2]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses the participle for being skilled.[2][4]
  • 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it for knowing the gifts of the Muses.[3][5]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus uses it for believing.[2][5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus and the tragedians use it for knowing a fact.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To know how, be able or skilled to do something.[3][6]
  2. To be versed in, understand a craft or a subject; to be acquainted with something.[3]
  3. To know as a fact; to know that something is so.[3]
  4. To be convinced, feel sure, often mistakenly.[3][2]

Word family

  • ἐπιστήμη (epistḗmē)
  • ἐπιστήμων (epistḗmōn)
  • ἐπιστητός (epistētós)
  • συνεπίσταμαι (sunepístamai)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  5. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press