ἰδέα

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /i.dé.aː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /iˈðe.a/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /iˈðe.a/^[1]

Forms

ῐ̓δέᾱ (idéā) f (genitive ῐ̓δέᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a verbal abstract from ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”), formed like ἀλέα (aléā, “warmth of the sun”).^[2][3] It goes back to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”) and is closely related to εἶδος (eîdos).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded uses are in the 6th century BC: Theognis has the plural for outward appearances that deceive the mind, and Pindar uses it for a person's beauty of form.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus used it for appearance and for kind or sort, and Thucydides for the nature of an epidemic or a war and for a way of attacking a city.^[5][7] Isocrates and Aristotle used it for literary form, and Democritus is reported to have called his atoms “indivisible forms”.^[7][5] In Plato it is the idea of something, and above all the Forms, the ideal patterns opposed to particular things, and Aristotle discusses them under this name.^[7][2]

In the New Testament it is outward appearance: the angel's “appearance was like lightning” (Matthew 28:3).^[5][8] Latin borrowed it as idea, and through Latin it reached Russian and other languages.^[1] Modern Greek ιδέα kept the ancient senses as a learned word; its sense “idea, notion” is a semantic loan from French idée and German Idee.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Theognis and Pindar use it for appearance.^[4][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for kind or sort;^[5] Thucydides for the nature of a plague.^[5][7][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the Forms.^[7][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for literary form.^[7][6]
• 1st century AD – Matthew uses it for an angel's appearance.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Appearance, form, especially of a beautiful body.^[5][7]
2. Mere appearance, semblance.^[5][7]
3. Shape, configuration.^[7]
4. Nature, kind, sort; a way of doing something.^[5][7]
5. Literary form, arrangement.^[7]
6. (philosophy) The idea of a thing; a Platonic Form.^[7]

Related words

• Latin idea
• English idea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki