Word Power: Atheist

Today’s lesson in Word Power is to understand the history and etymology behind the word atheist.

Atheist (Noun): [a-the-ist]

1. One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.  (American Heritage Dictionary)

Etymology

The etymology of atheist can be be traced all the way back to Ancient Greece where they actually had the word αθεος (atheos).  2500 years ago, the word αθεος meant denying the gods, being ungodly, or godless.  This word eventually gave meaning to the words atheism and atheist.  However, αθεος was not developed out of thin air and was systematically created by the Ancient Greeks to imply a separation from the gods.

Θεος (Theos)

In Ancient Greece the word θεος  meant god.  The Greeks believed in multiple gods, such as Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, etc. so it was not uncommon to see the plural form of θεος used, which looks like θεοι.  We see θεος used in our language today in words such as polytheism (the belief in many gods) and theology (the study of god).

In order for the Ancient Greeks to create a word which meant “ungodly, godless” they added affixed the alpha (α-) to the front.

Alpha Privative (or Alpha Negative)

The alpha privative is the prefix that indicates the following word will be negated.  I call it the alpha negative because it simply negates or denies the word.  An example of this can be seen in the word atrophy, which means deterioration or wasting away.  The root troph comes from the Ancient Greek word τροφη (trophe), which meant nourishment.  Once you prefix the word with the alpha negative, the word instantly means the exact opposite of the root.  Hence, atrophy means the opposite of health and nourishment.

Summary

The current definition of an atheist is somebody who denies the existence of God and this interpretation is spot on with the etymology of the word.  Hopefully, you can see how the α prefixed on a word changes the meaning of that word entirely making it mean the opposite.  2,500 years later, we use the word atheist, the same way the Ancients used the word αθεος.

Image Used in Post

Lego DNA image courtesy of Flickr user mknowles’ published under the CC license.