ὑπηρέτης

Forms

ὑπηρέτης (hupērétēs) m (genitive ῠ̔πηρέτου); first declension^[1] Doric ὑπηρέτας (hupērétas) in inscriptions from Epidaurus and Cos.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ὑπο- (hupo-) + ἐρέτης (erétēs, “rower”), originally a sailors' word.^[4][1][5] Beekes holds that it cannot have meant literally “under-rower”: the prefix only stresses that the rower is the subordinate of the κελευστής (keleustḗs, “boatswain”), as in ὑποδμώς (hupodmṓs), the same as δμώς (dmṓs, “servant”).^[4][1] Spicq and Babiniotis explain the first sense as a rower under orders, perhaps on the lower deck.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sense “rower” is attested only doubtfully, in an inscription from Cos.^[2][3] In the earliest texts, Pratinas and Aeschylus, it is already a servant or helper: in Pratinas the aulos is the servant of the chorus, and in Aeschylus Hermes is the servant of the gods.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy and Attic prose it covers every kind of subordinate: the servant of a god, of a ruler or of the laws, a physician's assistant, the attendant of the judges.^[2][5] In Athens it was the servant who carried an hoplite's baggage, rations and shield, sometimes armed as a slinger or archer, and the assistant of the Eleven who carried out executions.^[2][3] Hellenistic inscriptions and papyri use it for officials, administrators and domestic workers.^[6]

In the New Testament it is the attendant of a court or of the Sanhedrin, the officer who arrests, and John Mark as the helper of Paul and Barnabas.^[8][6] The denominative ὑπηρετέω (hupēretéō) “to serve” and ὑπηρεσία (hupēresíā), first a crew of rowers and then service, belong to the same family.^[3][7] Modern Greek υπηρέτης (ypirétis) is a learned word for a servant or attendant.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pratinas calls the aulos the servant of the chorus, and Aeschylus calls Hermes the servant of the gods.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a servant, and Thucydides for the attendant who carried an hoplite's baggage.^[2][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it for the assistant of the Eleven who carried out executions.^[2][3]
• 1st century BC – An inscription from Cos may use the Doric ὑπηρέτας for a rower.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for court officers and for a missionary's helper.^[8][6]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek υπηρέτης (ypirétis) means a servant.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Perhaps a rower under orders.^[2][5]
2. A servant, attendant, helper; any subordinate of a god, ruler, master or official.^[2][5][8]
3. (Athens) The attendant who carried an hoplite's baggage and shield.^[2]
4. (Athens) The assistant of the Eleven, the executioner.^[2][3]
5. An officer of a court or council, a bailiff.^[8][6]
6. (figurative) A minister or agent of something, as wealth of vice.^[5]

Word family

• ὑπηρεσία (hupēresíā)
• ὑπηρέσιον (hupērésion)
• ὑπηρετέω (hupēretéō)
• ὑπηρετικός (hupēretikós)
• ὑπηρέτις (hupērétis)
• ἀρχυπηρέτης (arkhupērétēs)

Related words

• ἐρέτης (erétēs)
• ἐρέσσω (eréssō)

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 f g 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
4. ^ a b 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki