διάκονος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• δῐήκονος (dĭḗkonos) — Ionic
• δῐᾱ́κων (dĭā́kōn) — later

Etymology

δῐᾰ- (dĭă-) + Proto-Indo-European *kón-os, from *ken- (“to set oneself in motion”). The length of the ᾱ (ā) is explained by Brugmann and Boisacq as by analogy to long vowels that occurred in compounds where the second element started with a vowel.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /di.ǎː.ko.nos/ → /ðiˈa.ko.nos/ → /ðiˈa.ko.nos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /di.ǎː.ko.nos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /diˈa.ko.nos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ðiˈa.ko.nos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ðiˈa.ko.nos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ðiˈa.ko.nos/

Noun

δῐᾱ́κονος • (dĭā́konos) m or f (genitive δῐᾱκόνου); second declension

1. messenger, courier
2. servant
3. (biblical) minister, deacon, deaconess (female deacon)

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ δῐᾱ́κονος; τοῦ δῐᾱκόνου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ δῐᾱ́κονος ho dĭā́konos	τὼ δῐᾱκόνω tṑ dĭākónō	οἱ δῐᾱ́κονοι hoi dĭā́konoi
Genitive	τοῦ δῐᾱκόνου toû dĭākónou	τοῖν δῐᾱκόνοιν toîn dĭākónoin	τῶν δῐᾱκόνων tôn dĭākónōn
Dative	τῷ δῐᾱκόνῳ tôi dĭākónōi	τοῖν δῐᾱκόνοιν toîn dĭākónoin	τοῖς δῐᾱκόνοις toîs dĭākónois
Accusative	τὸν δῐᾱ́κονον tòn dĭā́konon	τὼ δῐᾱκόνω tṑ dĭākónō	τοὺς δῐᾱκόνους toùs dĭākónous
Vocative	δῐᾱ́κονε dĭā́kone	δῐᾱκόνω dĭākónō	δῐᾱ́κονοι dĭā́konoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἀρχῐδῐᾱ́κονος (arkhĭdĭā́konos)
• δῐᾱκονέω (dĭākonéō)
• δῐᾱκόνημᾰ (dĭākónēmă)
• δῐᾱκόνησῐς (dĭākónēsĭs)
• δῐᾱκονητῐκός (dĭākonētĭkós)
• δῐᾱκονῐ́ᾱ (dĭākonĭ́ā)
• δῐᾱκονῐκός (dĭākonĭkós)
• δῐᾱκονῐ́ομαι (dĭākonĭ́omai)
• δῐᾱκόνῐον (dĭākónĭon)
• δῐᾱκονῐ́ς (dĭākonĭ́s)
• δῐᾱκόνῐσσᾰ (dĭākónĭssă)

Descendants

• Greek: διάκονος (diákonos), διάκος (diákos)
• Mariupol Greek: дъя́кос (ðjákos)
• → Albanian: dhjak
• → Coptic: ⲇⲓⲁⲕⲱⲛ (diakōn)
• → Gothic: 𐌳𐌹𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃 (diakaunus)
• → Latin: diaconus (see there for further descendants)
• → Middle Armenian: դիակոն (diakon)
• → Old Georgian: დიაკონი (diaḳoni)
• → Romanian: diacon
• → Russian: диакон (diakon), дьякон (dʹjakon), дьяк (dʹjak)
• → Ukrainian: диякон (dyjakon), дяк (djak)

Further reading

• “διάκονος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “διάκονος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• διάκονος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• διάκονος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• G1249 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • attendant idem, page 51.
  • courtier idem, page 179.
  • pander idem, page 590.
  • retainer idem, page 706.
  • satellite idem, page 734.
  • servant idem, page 755.

Greek

Etymology

From Koine Greek διάκονος (diákonos)

Noun

διάκονος • (diákonos) m (plural διάκονοι, feminine διακόνισσα)

1. (chistianity) deacon

Declension

Declension of διάκονος

	singular	plural
nominative	διάκονος (diákonos)	διάκονοι (diákonoi)
genitive	διάκονου (diákonou) διακόνου (diakónou)	διάκονων (diákonon) διακόνων (diakónon)
accusative	διάκονο (diákono)	διάκονους (diákonous) διακόνους (diakónous)
vocative	διάκονε (diákone)	διάκονοι (diákonoi)

Second forms are formal. 

Related terms

• αρχιδιάκονος m (archidiákonos, “archdeacon”)

Further reading

• διάκονος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el
• διάκονος, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language