ὑποκριτικός

Forms

ὑποκρῐτικός (hupokritikós) m (feminine ὑποκριτική, neuter ὑποκριτικόν); first/second declension; adverb ὑποκριτικῶς.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs, “actor”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[3][4][5] The noun ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs) is from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aristotle (4th century BC), of oratorical delivery: in the Rhetoric a talent for delivery is said to be a gift of nature (φύσεως τὸ ὑποκριτικὸν εἶναι), and ἡ ὑποκριτική is the art of delivery in the Rhetoric and the Poetics.^[1][2][8]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle also calls a style suited for delivery ὑποκριτικός, a use taken up by Demetrius' On Style.^[1][2] As a noun ἡ ὑποκριτική (τέχνη) was also the actor's art, in Philodemus and Galen and in a variant reading of the Hippocratic Regimen.^[1][9]

In the 2nd century AD it took the sense “playing a part, pretending to”, with a genitive: Lucian describes a character ὑποκριτικὴ τοῦ βελτίονος, “putting on a show of the better”, and Vettius Valens has it too.^[1][4][10] Modern Greek υποκριτικός (ypokritikós) is a learned word with both senses: “hypocritical”, the Hellenistic one, and “of actors and acting”, the ancient one.^[11]

English hypocritic (1530s) is from the Greek word; the more common hypocritical (1540s) adds the suffix -al to it.^[6]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of oratorical delivery.^[1][2][8]
• 3rd century BC – Chamaeleon, quoted by Athenaeus, uses the adverb ὑποκριτικῶς.^[1][8]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses ἡ ὑποκριτική for the actor's art.^[1][8]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of a character pretending to virtue.^[1][4][8]
• 1530s – English takes hypocritic from it.^[6]
• Modern Greek – υποκριτικός (ypokritikós) means “hypocritical” and “of acting”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to acting or to oratorical delivery; gifted for it.^[2][1]
2. Suited for delivery (of a style).^[1][2]
3. ἡ ὑποκριτική (τέχνη): the art of delivery; the actor's art.^[1][2][5]
4. (with genitive) Pretending to, feigning.^[1][4][9]

Related words

• ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs)
• ὑπόκρισις (hupókrisis)
• ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai)
• English hypocritical

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c d Woordenboek Grieks/Nederlands (2012–), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, https://woordenboekgrieks.nl
5. ^ a b Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
10. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki