ἰδιωτικός

Forms

ἰδῐωτῐκός (idiōtikós) m (feminine ἰδῐωτῐκή, neuter ἰδῐωτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “private person”) + -ικός (-ikós),^[1] and so belongs with ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, private”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus first uses it of what belongs to a private person rather than the public, such as private stores of grain and a private tower.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it is the adjective of the ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs), the private citizen as against the state, the ruler or the community: private houses, a privately owned trireme as against the state ship, an omen that concerns a single person rather than a king.^[3][4] Because the ἰδιώτης was also the layman, Plato and Aristotle use the word for what is amateurish and unskilled, and for ordinary, everyday language.^[3][4] Later critics use it of language that is vulgar.^[3] In papyri of the Roman period it names private banks, loans and land, as against public ones.^[3] The Septuagint has it twice, in the Fourth Book of Maccabees.^[6][2]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it for what belongs to someone, for the common spoken language as against the learned one, and for a humble person.^[7] Modern Greek ιδιωτικός (idiotikós) is a learned word, and its sense “private, not public” was shaped by French privé, English private and German Privat-.^[8] Through a Latinized form of its neuter, German and English took idioticon, a dictionary of a dialect.^[9][1]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of private property.^[3][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for what is unskilled or amateurish.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of everyday language.^[3]
• 1st century AD – Papyri speak of a private bank.^[3]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it of the common spoken language.^[7]
• 1842 – English records idioticon, a dialect dictionary, taken through German.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned ιδιωτικός (idiotikós) means private, as against public or state-owned.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for a private person, private, personal, as against public, royal or common.^[3][4]
2. Of a private citizen, as against a ruler.^[4]
3. Concerning a single person, individual.^[4]
4. Unprofessional, amateurish, unskilled.^[3][4]
5. Of language, commonplace, everyday; later, vulgar.^[3]

Related words

• ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs)
• ἴδιος (ídios)
• Latin idioticus
• English idioticon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com