ὑποκριτής

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /hy.po.kri.tɛ̌ːs/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /y.po.kriˈtis/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /y.po.kriˈtis/^[1]

Forms

ῠ̔ποκρῐτής (hupokritḗs) m (genitive ῠ̔ποκρῐτοῦ); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai, “to answer; to play a part”) with the agent suffix -τής (-tḗs).^[1][2] Spicq notes that the verb, formed from ὑπό (hupó, “under”) and κρίνω (krínō, “to judge, decide”), first meant “to answer”, as in Homer and Herodotus, then “to interpret” and “to play a part”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato uses it for an interpreter of riddling voices and visions, and Aristophanes, Plato and Xenophon for an actor.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, “one who answers”, gave “interpreter” or “expounder”, as of dreams in Lucian.^[4] Hesychius glosses it as “seer”.^[4][6] In Attic it was the stage actor, “the one who answers on stage”, and Philodemus uses it of an orator's delivery, calling Demosthenes a subtle actor.^[4][6]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is used only figuratively: one who plays a part, a pretender, a hypocrite, especially in piety.^[2][5] Lust gives “impious person” for the Septuagint.^[2][5][7] Modern Greek υποκριτής (ypokritís) is a hypocrite, the Hellenistic sense, and, as a learned word, an actor of ancient drama.^[8]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Plato use it for an actor.^[4][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for an interpreter of riddles.^[4][5]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses it of an orator's delivery.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for a hypocrite.^[2][5]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it for an interpreter of dreams.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An interpreter, expounder, as of dreams or riddles.^[4][5]
2. A stage actor.^[4][5]
3. (New Testament) A pretender, dissembler, hypocrite.^[2][5]

Related words

• ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai)
• ὑπόκρισις (hupókrisis)
• κρίνω (krínō)
• English hypocrite

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki