'apothegmatize' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'apophthēgma', where 'apo-' meant 'away' and 'phthēgma' meant 'a spoken saying (utterance)'.

'apothegmatize' developed in English as a modern formation combining the Greek-rooted noun 'apophthēgma' (via Late Latin/Medieval Latin usage of related forms) with the productive English verb-forming suffix '-ize', yielding the sense 'to make into apothegms'.

Initially, the root referred to a 'spoken pithy saying', and over time the verb form came to mean 'to express or convert into concise, aphoristic sayings'.