δίχα

Validation

Yes

Word-form

δίκη

Transliteration (Word)

dikē

English translation (word)

justice

Transliteration (Etymon)

dikha

English translation (etymon)

asunder, apart

Author

Cornutus

Century

1 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

De natura deorum, 57

Ed.

C. Lang, Cornuti theologiae Graecae compendium, Leipzig, 1881

Quotation

καλεῖται […] ἡ δὲ Δίκη ἀπὸ τοῦ δίχα χωρίζειν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων τοὺς διαφερομένους

Translation (En)

justice” (dikē) is named from ‘separate the litigants “in two parts” (dikha) from one another‘

Other translation(s)

Italian: "Giustizia" (he Díke), dall'azione di separare in due parti (díkha), gli uni dagli altri, coloro che sono in contrasto (P. Ciacchi 2002)

Comment

This etymology is first explicit in Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics (1132a31), about the adjective δίκαιος (q.v.) and not the substantive δίκη. Cornutus extends it to the base noun

Parallels

See Iamblichus, Theologoumena arithmeticae 41.11 (<δίκην> οἷον δίχησιν); Joannes Philoponus, In Aristotelis physicorum libros commentaria (Vitelli 1887) 16.388.30 (ἐκάλουν (scil. οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι) γὰρ τὸν μὲν εʹ δίκην διὰ τὸ τοὺς μέχρι δεκάδος ἀριθμοὺς δίχα διαιρεῖν); Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos 103.18 (Gaisford) (παρὰ τὸ δίκαιος, τοῦτο παρὰ τὸ δίκη, τοῦτο παρὰ τὸ δίχω, τὸ διχάζω· ἡ γὰρ δίκη τὰ δύο μέρη διΐστησι).

Cf. Orion, Etymologicum, delta, p. 47(Δικαιοσύνη. παρὰ τὸ διχάζειν τὸ ἄδικον τοῦ δικαίου. διχαιοσύνη τὶς οὖσα. οὕτως Ἡρακλείδης); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 275.36 (Gaisford) <Δίκαιος>: Παρὰ τὸ δίκη δίκαιος· τοῦτο παρὰ τὸ δίχω, τὸ διχάζω ; ibid., p. 275.53 (<Δίκη>: Ἡ θεός· παρὰ τὸ διχάζειν καὶ διαλύειν τοὺς φιλονεικοῦντας καὶ δικαζομένους, δίχη καὶ δίκη. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ διχάζειν καὶ χωρίζειν τὸ ἄδικον ἐκ τοῦ δικαίου, διχαιοσύνη τὶς οὖσα, παρὰ τὸ εἰς δύο χέειν τὰ πράγματα· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δίζω, τὸ ζητῶ, ἡ ζητοῦσα τὸ ἀληθές).

Modern etymology

The word is related to δείκνυμι "I show" and its original meaning is probably “direction” (Chantraine 1968, 284)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word "δίκη" is used in Modern Greek to denote the official juridicial procedure for the distribution of justice ('trial'). See also the MG phrase "Θεία Δίκη", meaning the 'divine justice/punishment' (Triandafyllidis, Dictionary of MG)

Entry By

Arnaud Zucker