pistic, a. (and n.)
(ˈpɪstɪk)
[ad. L. pistic-us (Vulg.), a. Gr. πιστικός perhaps ‘genuine, pure’, f. πίστις faith; but see quot. 1881.]
1. In nard pistic, pistic nard = Gr. νάρδος πιστική in Mark xiv. 3 and John xii. 3 (in Bible versions translated spikenard).
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. vii. 351 Nor must that perhaps be taken for a simple unguent,..but rather a composition, as Marke and John imply by pistick Nard, that is faithfully dispensed. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. Sect. xiii, She came..with a box of Nard Pistick, salutary and precious. 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint. ii. St. Mary Magd., Why is this rich, this pistic nard Spilt, and the box quite broke and marr'd? 1881 N.T. (R.V.) Mark xiv. 3 Ointment of spikenard. Margin, Gr. pistic nard, pistic being perhaps a local name. Others take it to mean genuine; others, liquid. |
2. Pertaining to faith or trust rather than to reason; hence ellipt. as n., someone who accepts things simply on trust.
| 1923 Ogden & Richards Meaning of Meaning ii. 89 The purely verbal systems so characteristic of pistic speculation. 1965 in W. Schneemelcher New Test. Apocr. II. xi. 77 The apostolic secret tradition..is accessible not merely to the small circle of a spiritual élite, the ‘hylic’ and ‘psychic’ or ‘pistic’ being excluded on principle, but to all those who have been received into the church..as full Christians. |