Abstract

For the first time we have in this book a study of the development of ἱστορία and its cognates, from Homer to St. Augustine's transliteration, historia. The ancient word ἵστορ meant someone who was known to be able to "see" clearly which of two conflicting accounts was correct. Used as an adjective, the word attributed that capacity to someone. The verb ἱστορεῖν was derived from ἵστορ, and in the Hellenic age indicated the activity of the ἵστορ. The noun ἱστορία was used less frequently than these other words in the Hellenic age. After Herodotus' ἱστορίαι, however, the noun came to indicate the results of the inquiry of the ἵστορ, despite the fact that what underlies all of these uses, for Press, is "an activity idea."