ἐπιστολή

Forms

ἐπῐστολή (epistolḗ) f (genitive ἐπῐστολῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek ἐπιστέλλω (epistéllō, “to send a message, to send word”),^[1][2][3] with the o-grade of the verb's root, as in ἀποστολή (apostolḗ) beside ἀποστέλλω (apostéllō).^[3] The verb is made of ἐπί (epí) and στέλλω (stéllō, “to dispatch, send”),^[3] which Wiktionary derives from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to set”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest texts are Aeschylus's plays, where it is always plural and means the commands or injunctions someone gives: in the Suppliants Danaus tells his daughters to keep their father's instructions.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

At first it meant anything sent through a messenger, spoken or written: an order, a commission, a message.^[2][4][5] Herodotus uses it in this sense, with a phrase meaning “by command”.^[2] From Thucydides on it is the usual word for a written letter: one sends, delivers and opens a letter.^[2][4] Like γράμματα (grámmata) and Latin litterae, the plural can stand for a single letter.^[2] Under the Roman Empire the emperor's secretary was the official “in charge of the letters”, translating Latin ab epistulis.^[2]

The Septuagint uses it 61 times for a letter, and in the New Testament it names the letters of the apostles.^[6][7] Coptic borrowed it from about AD 300.^[8] Latin took it over as epistula, and the English word epistle comes from the Latin word, partly through Old French.^[9][10]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept both “dispatch” and “letter”.^[11] In Modern Greek επιστολή (epistolí) is a learned word for a letter.^[12]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the plural for instructions or commands.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a message or order, and Thucydides for a written letter.^[2][4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the letters of Paul and the other apostles.^[7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch calls the emperor's secretary the man “in charge of the letters”.^[2]
• About AD 300 – It is first recorded in Coptic as ⲉⲡⲓⲥⲧⲟⲗⲏ (epistolē).^[8]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for a dispatch and for a letter.^[11]
• Modern Greek – The learned επιστολή (epistolí) is a formal word for a letter.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A message or order sent through someone, spoken or written.^[2][4] (plural, in tragedy) instructions, commands.^[2][4]
2. A letter; the plural can stand for a single letter.^[2][4]
3. (New Testament) A letter of an apostle, an epistle.^[7][13]

Word family

• ἐπιστολικός (epistolikós)

Related words

• ἐπιστέλλω (epistéllō)
• ἀποστολή (apostolḗ)
• στέλλω (stéllō)
• Latin epistula
• English epistle

Usage notes

The Lexica Segueriana gloss it with ἐντολή (entolḗ) “command” and ἐπίσκηψις (epískēpsis) “injunction”, the older sense.^[14]

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 m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b c 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 Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
14. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck