ἑκτικός

Forms

ἑκτῐκός (hektikós) m (feminine ἑκτῐκή, neuter ἑκτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1] Hesychius records a Laconian form ἐξικόρ (exikór).^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἕξις (héxis, “state, condition, habit”) + -ικός (-ikós),^[1][3] and so belongs to the family of ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”).^[3][4][2] Frisk and Beekes note its use as the name of a persistent fever, the source of the medical term “hectic”.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

LSJ reads it in a manuscript of Aristotle's Problemata but treats that reading as false.^[6] The first sure texts are by the Stoic Chrysippus, who speaks of a cohesive power and of “sustaining” causes that hold a thing together.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Beekes describes the adjective as Hellenistic: it concerns the hexis, the settled state of a body or a mind, and so means “habitual” or “practised”.^[3][5] Diodorus Siculus and Artemidorus use the adverb ἑκτικῶς of reading fluently, Plutarch of an orator's ease, and Epictetus, as recorded by Arrian, advises doing a thing as a habit if one wants to do it at all.^[6][2] With πρός it means skilled at an art, and Philodemus uses it with the genitive for “capable of”.^[6][2] Christian writers speak of a habitual virtue and a firm attachment to Christ.^[2]

In medicine Galen calls the slow, continuous fever of consumption ἑκτικός, and uses the word of the pulse and of patients wasting with that fever.^[6][2][5] Medieval vernacular Greek kept εκτικός (ektikós) “continuous”, especially in the phrase for the fever of pulmonary tuberculosis.^[7] Late Latin hecticus passed through Old French into English as etik, later hectic, with the Latin ⟨h⟩ restored in the 16th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus uses it of cohesive force and of sustaining causes in Stoic physics.^[6][2]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus uses the adverb of reading fluently.^[6][2]
• 2nd century AD – Arrian records Epictetus' advice to do a thing habitually.^[6][2]
• 2nd century AD – Galen names the persistent fever of consumption ἑκτικός.^[6][2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular εκτικός (ektikós) means continuous, and names the fever of tuberculosis.^[7]
• Late 14th century – English borrows it as etik in “fever etik”, through Old French and Late Latin.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Stoic philosophy) Cohesive, holding together; of causes, sustaining.^[6][2]
2. Formed by or forming habit, habitual; the adverb ἑκτικῶς means by habit, easily, fluently.^[6][2]
3. Practised or skilled (with πρός and the accusative).^[6][2]
4. Capable of (with the genitive).^[6]
5. (medicine) Hectic: of a persistent fever accompanying consumption, and of patients suffering from it.^[6][2][3]

Related words

• ἕξις (héxis)
• ἔχω (ékhō)
• Latin hecticus
• English hectic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com