πάθος Ancient Greek · revision 2238

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=6th–5th century BC, Aeschylus|origins=grc πάσχω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pá.tʰos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈpa.θos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈpa.θos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''πᾰ́θος''' (páthos) ''n'' (genitive πᾰ́θους or πᾰ́θεος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from παθ-, the zero grade of the root of [[m|grc|πάσχω|tr=páskhō|t=to experience, suffer]], as in the aorist ἔπαθον.^(Wiktionary)^(Πάπυρος)^(Beekes 2010) The verb keeps an old ablaut: zero grade in πάσχω (from *πάθ-σκ-ω) and παθεῖν, e-grade in πείσομαι (from *πένθ-σ-ομαι) and [[πένθος|tr=pénthos|t=grief]], o-grade in πέπονθα.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ Its further origin is uncertain.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) It has long been connected with Lithuanian [[m|lt|kęsti|alt=kę̃sti|t=to suffer]] and Old Irish [[m|sga|césaid|t=suffers]], from Proto-Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*kʷendʰ-]], as LIV still does; but such a root breaks the rules of Indo-European root structure.^(Beekes 2010)^(LIV 2001)^(Wiktionary) The alternative is the root [[m|ine-pro|*bʰendʰ-|t=to bind]], with “to be bound” becoming “to suffer”, as Pedersen, Leumann and Janda proposed.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Frisk found this formally close but difficult in meaning.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Aeschylus and Herodotus.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Aeschylus' ''Agamemnon'' has πάθει μάθος, “learning through suffering”.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is whatever happens to someone: Herodotus speaks of the “human things” that befall men, and it is an incident or an experience, good or bad.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Plato and Aristotle oppose it to action, and Aristotle names characters, experiences and actions as what poetry imitates.^(LSJ 1940) Most often it is something bad, a misfortune or calamity, in Aeschylus, Herodotus and the orators.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

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+ In philosophy it became an emotion or passion of the soul: Democritus says that wisdom frees the soul from passions, Aristotle defines the passions as states attended by pleasure or pain, and Zeno the Stoic wrote a work ''On Passions''.^(LSJ 1940) It could also be a state or condition, and a property of things as opposed to their essence.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Grammarians used it for a change in the form of a word, and in rhetoric it was the emotional style that moves an audience.^(LSJ 1940)

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+ The Septuagint has it for misfortune and for the passions, especially in 4 Maccabees.^(Lust 2003) In the New Testament it is lustful passion, as in Paul's “dishonourable passions”, and Ignatius uses it for the suffering of Christ.^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023)

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+ Medieval vernacular Greek used it for an unpleasant event, damage, a defect and, as a masculine, a disease.^(Kriaras) Modern Greek [[m|el|πάθος|tr=páthos]] is above all a passion, partly under the influence of French ''passion'', and τα Πάθη are the Passion of Christ.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Πάπυρος) English ''pathos'' is recorded from the 1660s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus speaks of learning through suffering.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a misfortune.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Democritus says wisdom frees the soul from passions.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle defines the passions by pleasure and pain.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – Paul speaks of dishonourable passions.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 2nd century AD – Ignatius uses it for the suffering of Christ.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 1660s – English ''pathos'' is first recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # What happens to one: an incident, an experience.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A misfortune, [[m|en|suffering]], calamity.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A sensation, something undergone.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # An [[m|en|emotion]], a [[m|en|passion]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A state or condition.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' A property of a thing, as opposed to its essence.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(grammar)'' A change in the form of a word.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' Emotional style.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(Koine)'' Lustful passion; in Christian writers, the suffering of Christ.^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀντιπαθής|tr=antipathḗs]]

+ * [[συμπαθής|tr=sumpathḗs]]

+ * [[προσπαθής|tr=prospathḗs]]

+ * [[πένθος|tr=pénthos]]

+ * [[ἀπάθεια|tr=apátheia]]

+ * [[συμπάθεια|tr=sumpátheia]]

+ * [[παθητικός|tr=pathētikós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[πάσχω|tr=páskhō]]

+ * [[en|empathy]]

+ * [[en|apathy]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}