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Ancient and Medieval Greek Etymologies

δίκαιος

Word

δίκαιος

Validation

Yes

Word-form

δίκαιον

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

LSJ

Transliteration (Word)

dikaios

English translation (word)

fair, just

Transliteration (Etymon)

diiimi

English translation (etymon)

to go through

Author

Plato

Century

4 BC

Source

Idem

Ref.

Cratylus 412e

Ed.

Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford UP, 1903

Quotation

ἐπεὶ δ᾽ οὖν ἐπιτροπεύει τὰ ἄλλα πάντα διαϊόν, τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα ἐκλήθη ὀρθῶς ‘δίκαιον,’ εὐστομίας ἕνεκα τὴν τοῦ κάππα δύναμιν προσλαβόν.

Translation (En)

Since, then, it superintends and passes through (διαϊόν) all other things, this is rightly called by the name dikaion "just", the sound of the kappa being added merely for the sake of euphony (transl. Fowler)

Comment

The starting point is a ghost-form with the non elided preverb and the neutre participle form. The etymology explains not the adjective, but the substantivized adjective referring to an abstract quality (justice). It implies a formal manipulation, the insertion of a consonant, for "euphonic" reasons. Note that this insertion does not coincide with the morphological boundary as the consonant is inserted right in the middle of the preverb

Modern etymology

Derived from δίκη "justice"

Persistence in Modern Greek

Δίκαιος is still used in Modern Greek to designate 1. 'just, fair', 2. 'someone/something following the rules/laws' (M. Triandafyllidis Dict. of Modern Greek)