Etymologically
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δηρός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /dɛː.rós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ðiˈros/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ðiˈros/[1]

Forms

δηρός (dērós) m (feminine δηρᾱ́, neuter δηρόν); first/second declension[1] Doric δᾱρός, the form used in tragedy.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *dwārós, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dweh₂rós, from *dweh₂- (“long”).[1][4][5] It belongs with the adverb δήν (dḗn, “for a long time”).[4][5] The same root is found in Hittite tuu̯a (“far”), Old Persian duvaištam (“for the longest time”), Sanskrit दूर (dūrá, “far”) and Latin dūdum (“for a long time”).[4][1]

Frisk and Πάπυρος identify δηρός exactly with Old Armenian երկար (erkar, “lasting long”), but Beekes, following Kortlandt, rejects the link.[6][7][4] Wiktionary also connects dūrus (“hard”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has δηρὸν χρόνον, “for a long time” (Iliad 14.206), but more often the neuter alone as an adverb, “for (too) long”, as in “to wait long” (2.298), and often with a negative: “I do not think you will escape for long” (10.371).[2][8]

Semantic evolution

It is an epic and poetic word, found in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, in Ibycus and in Apollonius of Rhodes.[3][2] Tragedy uses only the Doric form δαρός (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), and Euripides speaks of “the slow foot of time” (Bacchae 889).[2][3]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses the neuter as an adverb, “for long”.[2][8]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the Doric adverb δαρόν.[2][5]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use the Doric form.[2][3]
  • 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Long, long-lasting; with χρόνος, “for a long time”.[3][2]
  2. The neuter as an adverb: for a long time, too long.[2][8]
  3. Of the step of time, slow, unhurried.[3]
  • δήν (dḗn)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  7. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  8. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son