ἰδιώτης Ancient Greek · revision 2243

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=5th century BC, Herodotus|origins=ine-pro *swé}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /i.di.ɔ̌ː.tɛːs/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /i.ðiˈo.tis/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /i.ðiˈo.tis/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ῐ̓δῐώτης''' (idiṓtēs) ''m'' (genitive ῐ̓δῐώτου); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|grc|ἴδιος|-ώτης|tr1=ídios|tr2=-ṓtēs|t1=one's own, private]],^(Wiktionary)^(Πάπυρος)^(Frisk 1960) with the suffix of [[δεσμώτης|tr=desmṓtēs|t=prisoner]] and [[θιασώτης|tr=thiasṓtēs|t=member of a thiasos]].^(Πάπυρος) An Argive word for the same office, written ϝhεδιεστας, shows that ἴδιος once began with *ϝhε-.^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ [[m|grc|ἴδιος|tr=ídios]] comes from [[grk-pro|*hwédios]], from Proto-Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*swéd-yo-s]], a derivative of the reflexive [[m|ine-pro|*swé|t=self]], also seen in [[ἕ|tr=hé|t=him, her]].^(Wiktionary)^(Frisk 1960) Frisk mentions as possible a connection with Sanskrit [[m|sa|वि|tr=ví|t=apart]] instead.^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Herodotus, for a private man as opposed to a king or to those in public life.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Attic it was the private person as against the state, and the private citizen as against anyone holding office: a magistrate, a judge, a politician or an orator.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Xenophon uses it of a private soldier as opposed to a general.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) From this came the layman as against the expert: the physician (Thucydides on the plague), the poet (Plato calls the prose writer an ἰδιώτης), the athlete, the craftsman or the philosopher; with a genitive it means unskilled in something.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000) Aristophanes jokes about Euripides' “private gods”.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) In later Greek it also meant a common man of low rank, and as an adjective “everyday”, of speech.^(LSJ 1940)^(Spicq 1994)

+

+ The Rosetta Stone uses it for laymen as against priests, and in the New Testament it is the outsider or uninstructed person, as in Paul's question how the uninstructed can say “Amen” to a thanksgiving.^(LSJ 1940)^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023)

+

+ Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a commoner, a layman as opposed to a cleric, and as an adjective for low, boorish and illiterate.^(Kriaras)^(Πάπυρος) Modern Greek [[m|el|ιδιώτης|tr=idiótis]] is a private individual, not a public official; its psychiatric sense, a person with severe mental disability, was taken from French ''idiot'', which came through Latin ''idiota'' from ἰδιώτης.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a private man, as opposed to a king.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th century BC – Thucydides contrasts the layman with the physician.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for a private soldier.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 2nd century BC – The Rosetta Stone uses it for laymen, as opposed to priests.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century AD – Paul uses it for the uninstructed in a congregation.^(BDAG 2000)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek uses it for a layman and an illiterate person.^(Kriaras)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A private person, an individual, as opposed to the state.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A private citizen, without office, as opposed to a king, magistrate or politician.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A common man; a private soldier.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A [[m|en|layman]], without professional skill, as opposed to an expert.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(with genitive)'' One unskilled in something.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(adjectival)'' Private; of speech, everyday.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A layman, as opposed to a priest.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' An outsider, an uninstructed person.^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἰδιωτικός|tr=idiōtikós]]

+ * [[ἰδιωτεύω|tr=idiōteúō]]

+ * [[ἰδιωτεία|tr=idiōteía]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ἴδιος|tr=ídios]]

+ * [[ἰδίωμα|tr=idíōma]]

+ * [[la|idiōta]]

+ * [[en|idiot]]

+ * [[en|idiom]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}