οὕτως

Forms

οὕτως (hoútōs) ^[1] Before a consonant usually οὕτω (hoútō), though Attic writers sometimes keep οὕτως there and epic poets and Ionic prose use οὕτω before vowels too; strengthened Attic οὑτωσί (houtōsí).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is the adverb of the demonstrative οὗτος (hoûtos) “this”, made with the adverbial ending -ως (-ōs), just as Latin sic goes with hic.^[1][4] Beekes explains the pronoun as a fusion of the demonstrative stem of the article, Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *só, with a particle Proto-Indo-European *h₂u and the stem Proto-Indo-European *to-, the same element that appears in αὐτός (autós).^[5] Chantraine likewise analyses the pronoun as the article's stem with a particle /u/, as in πάνυ (pánu) and Sanskrit सो (só), and the stem το-.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is common from Homer on, where it means “in this way, so” and “so very”, and where it already stands as the counterpart of a clause with ὡς (hōs) “as”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

οὕτως became one of the commonest adverbs of Greek, with more than 40,000 examples in the GLAUx corpus.^[7] It pointed back or forward to a manner (“thus, in this way”), and it stood with ὡς or ὥσπερ (hṓsper) in comparisons: “as …, so …”.^[2][3] It also gave degree (“so very”), and in Attic it introduced the main clause after a participle or a clause of time, meaning “and then, only then”.^[2] The spoken language used it in set phrases: in answers (“just so”), in prayers and oaths (“so may the gods grant you …”), and at the start of a story.^[2]

In the Septuagint it translates Hebrew Biblical Hebrew כֵּן (kēn) “so”, and it is very frequent in the New Testament.^[8][9] Coptic and Gothic texts took over or translated it, and Modern Greek keeps ούτως (oútos) as a learned word.^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “thus” and “so very”, often answering ὡς.^[3][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses οὕτω δή to introduce the main clause.^[2][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Plato use it to open a story: “there was once…”.^[2][13]
• 3rd century BC – Herodas uses it in a prayer.^[2][13]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for Hebrew “so”.^[8][9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In this way, thus, so; often answering a clause with ὡς or ὥσπερ (“as …, so …”).^[2][3]
2. In answers: just so, yes.^[2]
3. With an imperative: just as things are, without more ado.^[2][3]
4. In wishes and oaths: so (may it be), on that condition.^[2]
5. Introducing a main clause after a participle or a clause of time: then, only then; also inferential, therefore.^[2]
6. Of degree: so very, to such an extent.^[2][3]

Related words

• οὗτος (hoûtos)
• ὡς (hōs)
• ὥσπερ (hṓsper)

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses it with τοιούτως and ὁμοίως “in such a way, likewise”.^[14] With a participle of “call” it means “so-called” (ὁ οὕτω καλούμενος), as in Strabo and Aelian.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
11. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
14. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)