εὑρίσκω

Forms

εὑρῐ́σκω (heurískō) ^[1] Aorist εὗρον (heûron), perfect εὕρηκα (heúrēka), future εὑρήσω (heurḗsō).^[2] Aeolic aorist infinitive εὔρην (heúrēn).^[2][3]

Etymology

Because the verb's meaning is completive, Beekes takes the aorist εὗρον (heûron) to be its oldest part, with an old perfect seen in εὕρηκα (heúrēka) beside it.^[3] The future εὑρήσω (heurḗsō) arose after these, and the present εὑρίσκω, an inchoative in -σκω (-skō), was the last member of the paradigm to be formed.^[3][1] The root is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wreh₁- (“to find”), but the exact formation of the aorist is unclear.^[1][3] It may be a thematic root aorist standing for an augmented *ἔϝρον (*éwron), or, following Beckwith, a reduplicated aorist *we-wrh₁-e/o- that lost its first ϝ (w) by dissimilation; the rough breathing is perhaps secondary, after ἑλεῖν (heleîn) and similar verbs.^[3]

Cognate with Old Irish ·fúair (“found”), the Old Irish preterite (of fo·gaib (“to find”)), itself reduplicated, and Oscan ϝουρουστ (wouroust); perhaps also Old Church Slavonic обрѣсти (obrěsti, “to find”) and Old Armenian գերեմ (gerem, “to take prisoner”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, where the aorist εὗρον (heûron) means “to find” or “come upon” someone or something, by searching or by chance.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

From Herodotus on it also means “to find out” facts by inquiry, “to discover” that something is the case, and “to invent”; the passive “to be found” is used of persons and things from Aeschylus on.^[2] With a dative it means “to procure” something for someone (Lysias, Plato), and the middle means “to obtain” something for oneself.^[2][5] Its derivatives include εὕρημα (heúrēma, “invention”), εὕρεσις (heúresis, “discovery”), εὑρετής (heuretḗs, “discoverer”) and εὑρετικός (heuretikós, “inventive”) (Plato).^[3] In the New Testament it is the common verb for finding, both after a search and by accident.^[6]

Medieval Greek kept Byzantine Greek ευρίσκω (evrískō) and also had the dialect forms βρέσκω (vréskō) and ευρήκω (evríkō).^[7] The shortened βρίσκω (vrísko), which lost its unstressed initial vowel, is recorded in Du Cange and is the Modern Greek verb.^[7][8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the aorist for finding someone or something.^[2][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for finding out facts and for inventing.^[2][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for procuring a benefit for someone.^[2][10]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for finding after a search or by chance.^[6]
• 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek has a shortened form beside Byzantine Greek ευρίσκω (evrískō).^[7]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek βρίσκω (vrísko) is the everyday verb for “to find”.^[8][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To find, come upon someone or something, by searching or by chance; with a participle, to find someone doing something.^[2][5]
2. To find out, discover facts by inquiry or experience.^[2]
3. To find out that something is the case.^[2]
4. To invent, devise.^[2][5]
5. To procure something for someone; in the middle, to obtain something for oneself.^[2][5]
6. (passive) To be found; of facts, to be found out.^[2]

Word family

• ἀνευρίσκω (aneurískō)
• ἐξευρίσκω (exeurískō)
• εὕρεσις (heúresis)
• εὑρετής (heuretḗs)
• εὑρετικός (heuretikós)
• εὑρετός (heuretós)
• εὕρημα (heúrēma)
• ἐφευρίσκω (epheurískō)
• παρευρίσκω (pareurískō)

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 j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
7. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge