On performance

performance | επιτέλεση

The action or the result of επιτελώ: to perform. Derivatives: επιτελώ/-ούμαι: to execute, to realize; επιτελεστικός, -ή, -ό: used as a translation of the term performative. In the Greek literature, the word επιτέλεση has been used as a translation of the english term performance, mainly in the field of Social Anthropology. Some departments of Greek universities offer a course on the “Anthropology of Performance”, while the performance studies have in some cases been translated as the studies ofεπιτέλεση. In the field of Art History, the word has been sporadically used as a translation of the termsperformance art, or art-action, that are usually translated as (visual) action, or (artistic) “dromenon”. Recently, the word performance tends to be used untranslated. According to Demosthenes Agraphiotis, the morpheme τελ of the word επιτέλεση “is related to the fulfillment of a thought, a wish, or a prophecy.” “In Homeric epic poems, the traveller επιτελεί, completes his route approaching the νόστος, the return to the motherland”. The meaning of the ancient Greek verb τελάω,-ώ was the realization of a journey, and its infinitive (τελείν) was demonstrating an action “in absolute agreement with plan, a command, a prayer, a promise or a prophecy.” This relationship is eloquent to other words with the morpheme τελ, such as τελετή (ritual/ceremony), τέλειο (perfect), τελεία (full stop), εκτέλεση(execution), ατελές (imperfect), συντελεστής (factor), τελεστής (operator), εκτελεστής(executioner),τελεσφορία (efficiency), τελειώνω (to finish).

Author and translator: Marios Hatziprokopiou