ὀστρακίζω
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Pronunciation
- IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /os.tra.kíz.dɔː/[1]
- IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /os.traˈci.zo/[1]
- IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /os.traˈci.zo/[1]
Forms
ὀστρᾰκίζω (ostrakízō) [1]
Etymology
It is derived from ὄστρακον (óstrakon, “potsherd”) with the verbal suffix -ίζω (-ízō): to banish by a vote cast on potsherds, on which the voters wrote the name of the man to be exiled.[1][2][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Thucydides uses the passive of men who were ostracised from Athens.[4][2]
Semantic evolution
Ostracism was an Athenian institution by which a leading citizen was sent into exile for a time.[2] Andocides and Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians describe it, and Aristotle's Politics discusses it as a political practice.[2][4] Aristotle notes that it was used at Argos as well, and a scholiast adds Megara and Miletus.[4]
English took ostracize from a Latinized form in the 1640s, also in the figurative sense of excluding someone from society.[3]
Timeline
- 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for ostracism at Athens.[4][2]
- 5th–4th century BC – Andocides mentions men who were ostracised.[4]
- 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the practice at Athens and Argos.[4][2]
- 1640s – English borrows ostracize.[3]
Meanings
Verb
- To ostracize, banish a citizen for a time by a vote cast on potsherds.[4][2]
- To practise ostracism.[2]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press