Imeaning
Not the act of looking.
What comes into view.
Greek had many words for seeing. Ὀπτασία is not one of them. It names the other side of sight: the thing that shows itself, that stands before the eye without being sought.
- αAn appearance; something made visible.
- βA vision, received rather than looked for.
- γIn Greek today, οπτασία: a sight almost too striking to be real.
IIorigin
A root that sees.
The word grows from ὀπ-, the old Greek root of the eye and of sight. Add the ending that turns a deed into a thing, and the seeing becomes the seen.
ὀπto seeτασίαwhat comes of it
The same root still looks out through English:
opticsynopsisautopsypanopticoptometry
IIIin the texts
A word of the later Greek.
It appears in the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures and in the New Testament, always for a vision that is given: Luke 1:22, Luke 24:23, 2 Corinthians 12:1, and this line.
“I was not disobedient
to the heavenly vision.”
οὐκ ἐγενόμην ἀπειθὴς τῇ οὐρανίῳ ὀπτασίᾳ
Acts 26 · 19