The etymology provided on Wiktionary for “apocalypse” states that the word comes from ἀπό, meaning “after,” and καλύπτω, meaning “to cover,” so that the whole thing means something like “after covering.”
I have never heard of this alleged meaning of ἀπό; I think, rather, that the word retains its usual meaning of “away from.” I don’t have a precise explanation of how ἀποκαλύπτω and ἀποκάλυψις have acquired their respective meanings, but the explanation given on Wiktionary seems wrong.
Speaking of which, I have only now come to realize the etymology of “eucalyptus.”
It sometimes means “cease” in composition with other verbs. But perhaps a more physical image here of a covering taken off? καλύπτω has a lot of compounds:
ἀμφικαλύπτω - enwrap
ἀνακαλύπτω - uncover
ἀποκαλύπτω - uncover
διακαλύπτω - throw aside one’s cloak
ἐκκαλύπτω - uncover
κατακαλύπτω - cover up
παρακαλύπτω - cover by hanging something beside, disguise
περικαλύπτω - cover all round
προκαλύπτω - hang before as a covering
συγκαλύπτω - cover or veil completely
ceasing from, leaving off, as ἀπανθέω, ἀποζέω, ἀφυβρίζω.
back again, as ἀποδίδωμι, ἀπολαμβάνω, ἀπόπλους: also, in full, or what is one’s own, as ἀπέχω, ἀπολαμβάνω: freq. it only strengthens the sense of the simple.
by way of abuse, as in ἀποκαλέω.
almost = ἀ- priv.; sts. with Verbs, as ἀπαυδάω, ἀπαγορεύω; more freq. with Adjectives, as ἀποχρήματος, ἀπότιμος, ἀπόσιτος, ἀπόφονος.
It’s not a stretch to see it as “away” in ἀποκαλύπτω, taking the covering away, but perhaps best seen under D.6, “uncovering.”
More surprising than the fact that the suggested translation for " ἀπό (apó, “after”) is wrong on “Wiktionary” is that anyone should ever use this thoroughly unreliable source.
A student of mine has directed my attention to it. I guess she just googled something like “the etymology of apocalypse” and the Wiktionary entry was the first page that came up.
"apocalypse (n.)
late 14c., “revelation, disclosure,” from Church Latin apocalypsis “revelation,” from Greek apokalyptein “uncover, disclose, reveal,” from apo “off, away from” (see apo-) + kalyptein “to cover, conceal,” from PIE root *kel- (1) “to cover, conceal, save.” The Christian end-of-the-world story is part of the revelation in John of Patmos’ book “Apokalypsis” (a title rendered into English as pocalipsis c. 1050, “Apocalypse” c. 1230, and “Revelations” by Wyclif c. 1380).
Its general sense in Middle English was “insight, vision; hallucination.” The meaning “a cataclysmic event” is modern (not in OED 2nd ed., 1989); apocalypticism “belief in an imminent end of the present world” is from 1858. As agent nouns, “author or interpreter of the ‘Apocalypse,’” apocalypst (1829), apocalypt (1834), and apocalyptist (1824) have been tri
In this case the misinformation was added by someone from Regensburg, Germany on Jan 29th 2015. Before that it read ‘ἀπό (apó, “away”)’, which is more reasonable. Any one of us could fix this in less time than it takes to post about it here.
However, I don’t agree with Barry about D.6. I think that it would be either D.1 (“unmask”) or D.3 (when meaning “disclose, reveal”).
I admire your industry. I was unable to edit it as I am using a vpn which I couldn’t be bothered to turn off. The point remains that wiktionary is not reliable and people shouldn’t use it.
Right, which is why I made the comment about usage. Sometimes the compound is “transparent” (i.e., the constituent elements add up to an an obvious meaning that requires little thought), sometimes the compound element simply intensifies the meaning, and sometimes there is no apparent difference between the compound and simplex forms. Particularly true with Hellenistic and Koine Greek – compounds are often used where in classical we would expect the simplex forms. Context is king and usage his co-ruler.
