Advertisement

Origin and history of Antioch

Antioch

ancient city, modern Antakya in Turkey, anciently the capital of Syria, founded c. 300 B.C.E. by Seleucus I Nictor and named for his father, Antiochus. The name, also borne by several Syrian kings and an eclectic philosopher, is a Latinized form of Greek Antiokhos, literally "resistant, holding out against," from anti "against" (see anti-) + ekhein "to have, hold;" in intransitive use, "be in a given state or condition" (from PIE root *segh- "to hold"). Related: Antiochian.

Entries linking to Antioch

word-forming element of Greek origin meaning "against, opposed to, opposite of, instead," shortened to ant- before vowels and -h-, from Old French anti- and directly from Latin anti-, from Greek anti (prep.) "over, against, opposite; instead, in the place of; as good as; at the price of; for the sake of; compared with; in opposition to; in return; counter-," from PIE *anti "against," also "in front of, before" (from root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before"), which became anti- in Italian (hence antipasto) and French.

It is cognate with Sanskrit anti "over, against," and Old English and- (the first element in answer). A common compounding element in Greek, in some combinations it became anth- for euphonic reasons. It appears in some words in Middle English but was not commonly used in English word formations until modern times. In a few English words (anticipate, antique) it represents Latin ante.

In noun compounds where it has the sense of "opposed to, opposite" (Antichrist, anti-communist) the accent remains on the anti-; in adjectives where it retains its old prepositional sense "against, opposed to," the accent remains on the other element (anti-Christian, anti-slavery).

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to hold."

It might form all or part of: Antioch; asseverate; asthenia; asthenosphere; cachectic; cachexia; calisthenics; cathexis; entelechy; eunuch; epoch; hectic; Hector; ischemia; myasthenia; neurasthenia; Ophiuchus; persevere; schema; schematic; scheme; scholar; scholastic; school (n.1) "place of instruction;" severe; severity; Siegfried.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit sahate "he masters, overcomes," sahah "power, victory;" Avestan hazah "power, victory;" Greek skhema "figure, appearance, the nature of a thing," related to skhein "to get," ekhein "to have, hold; be in a given state or condition;" Gothic sigis, Old High German sigu, Old Norse sigr, Old English sige "victory."

    Advertisement

    More to explore

    Share Antioch

    Advertisement
    Trending
    Advertisement