[B-Greek] pistos etymology

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Sep 21 21:45:45 EDT 2008


On Sep 21, 2008, at 6:13 PM, deraby at att.net wrote:

> This is an interesting question and one I think is deeper than just  
> a short answer. I like what George has said about "trustworthiness."  
> We see that in one definition of Thayer in "confident trust." I have  
> wondered over again why in English we have no verb for faith from  
> the same derivative (ie. Fr. Lt fides). In other words why believe  
> v., belief n. translates pisteuo but not pistis in most English  
> versions.
>
> I see no place or justification for the "blind" acceptance of fact  
> without evidence. Or faith is some type of substance infused into a  
> soul of man therefore enabling him to believe. pistos, pistis seem  
> to be more expressive as trust which does require acceptance of a  
> given fact.
>
> Why is there little or no discussion on this question? Is it too  
> fraught with ambiguity?
>
> This is something I have searched for and wonder if some theological  
> issues influence the early English.
> To me faith is not a nuance word, but is a noun that is described by  
> the verb believe. Perhaps it is too loaded with some baggage it does  
> not deserve. Please pardon me if this is not fitting for B-Greek  
> list. I enjoy what I read and learn here. Donald Raby

The etymology of this word is not really in question -- you can  
consult any etymological Greek dictionary -- I find it readily in my  
old J. B. Hofmann, -Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen_.  
PISTOS relates to the verb PEIQOMAI. The Greek verbal root is PEIQ/ 
POIQ/PIQ, meaning essentially "trust", "entrust," "behave  
trustfully" (obey, heed), "win trust" = "persuade", etc., etc. PISTOS  
< PIQ-TOS with assimilation. The Latin noun "fides" and adjective  
"fidus/a/um" and verbs simple and compounded in "fido"  as well as the  
noun "foedus" ("bond of trust" = "covenant") are all cognate with the  
same IE root.

The caveat to be observed here is that etymology does not always  
provide an adequate key to the meaning of a word in a given context;  
this is a matter of demonstrable usage rather than derivation.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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