apodixis

English

Alternative forms

• apodeixis

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις (apódeixis). Doublet of policy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æpə(ʊ)ˈdɪksɪs/, /æpə(ʊ)ˈdaɪksɪs/

Noun

apodixis

1. Full demonstration or showing; absolute and incontrovertible proof.
   • 1647, George Buck, History of Richard III:

     ... this [bold assertion of defiance] might taste of a desperate will, if he had not afterwards given an apodixis in the battle ...

   • 1989, Walter Nash, Rhetoric: The Wit of Persuasion:

     Pythagoras, engaged in showing that the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides, is committed to apodeixis; Mark Anthony, arguing that the demonstrable generosity and benevolence of Caesar towards the people of Rome showed him to be a most unlikely candidate for the character of an ambitious tyrant, resorts to pistis, argument on the grounds of probability.

Translations

demonstration

• Portuguese: apodixe f

Latin

Alternative forms

• appodixis

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις (apódeixis).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /a.poˈdiːk.sis/, [äpɔˈd̪iːks̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /a.poˈdik.sis/, [äpoˈd̪iksis]

Noun

apodīxis f (genitive apodīxis or apodīxeōs or apodīxios); third declension

1. (post-Classical) proof, demonstration
   • 5th century, Pseudo-Ambrose, Epistolae, section 1.10:

     Crudelissima omnium feminarum, in filium meum voluisti apodixin tuae artis magicae demonstrare?

     Cruellest of all women, did you desire to demonstrate the proof of your magical art upon my son?

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, i-stem, i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	apodīxis	apodīxēs apodīxeis
genitive	apodīxis apodīxeōs apodīxios	apodīxium
dative	apodīxī	apodīxibus
accusative	apodīxim apodīxin apodīxem1	apodīxēs apodīxīs
ablative	apodīxī apodīxe1	apodīxibus
vocative	apodīxis apodīxi	apodīxēs apodīxeis

¹Found sometimes in Medieval and New Latin.

References

• “apodixis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• apodixis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• apodixis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• apodixis in Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1967– ) Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch, Munich: C.H. Beck
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “apodixis”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 49