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πάρειμι

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word πάρειμι

πάρειμι1 be present

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
700s BC Homer, Iliad
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek παρά,εἰμί

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pá.reː.mi/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpa.ri.mi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpa.ri.mi/[1]

Forms

πᾰ́ρειμῐ (páreimi) [1]

Etymology

From παρά (pará) “beside” and εἰμί (eimí) “to be”: “to be beside, be at hand”.[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it of persons present and of things at hand.[2][4] The poet tells the Muses that they know everything because they are present at all things (Iliad 2.485).[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From Homer on it is said of persons who are present, as opposed to absent, at an event or in someone's company, and of helpers who stand by someone; in lawcourts it was said of the friends who supported a defendant.[4][3] With prepositions it means “to have come” to a place or from somewhere, as in Herodotus and Thucydides.[4][3] Of things it means “to be ready, available”, and its participle gave the common expressions τὰ παρόντα, “the present circumstances”, and ὁ παρὼν χρόνος, “the present time”; the impersonal πάρεστι means “it is possible, it is in one's power”.[4] Plato uses it of a quality that is present in a thing.[4]

The New Testament uses it of persons who are present, and Paul opposes the participle to “absent”.[5] Modern Greek keeps the participle as the learned adjective παρών (parón) “present”.[6]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of persons present, of helpers and of things at hand.[2][4]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the impersonal πάρεστι, “it is in one's power”.[4][7]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it in the sense “to have come” to a place.[4][3][7]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of qualities present in things.[4][7]
  • 1st century AD – Paul contrasts being present and being absent.[5]
  • Modern Greek – The participle survives as the learned παρών (parón).[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be present, to be at hand, of persons, as opposed to absent; at an event or in a place.[4][3][5]
  2. To be with someone, to stand by someone as a helper, in war or at law.[4][3]
  3. (with a preposition) To have come to a place or from somewhere.[4][3]
  4. (of things) To be ready, available; participle τὰ παρόντα, the present circumstances; ὁ παρὼν χρόνος, the present time.[4]
  5. (impersonal) πάρεστι, it is possible, it is in one's power, with an infinitive.[4]

Word family

  • παρουσία (parousíā)
  • ἐπιπάρειμι (epipáreimi)

πάρειμι2 go by, come

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
700s BC Homer, Odyssey
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek παρά,εἶμι

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pá.reː.mi/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpa.ri.mi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpa.ri.mi/[1]

Forms

πᾰ́ρειμῐ (páreimi) [1]

Etymology

From παρά (pará) “beside, past” and εἶμι (eîmi) “to go”.[1][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Odyssey has only the participle, “passing by”: Aegisthus' watchman was posted so that Agamemnon should not pass by unnoticed (Odyssey 4.527).[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Attic it serves as the future of παρέρχομαι (parérkhomai) “to pass”, with παρῄειν as its imperfect, and also in a present sense.[4] Herodotus and Plato use it for passing by or going in,[4] Thucydides for an army marching along a coast,[4] and Xenophon also for overtaking and surpassing.[4] In speeches it means to pass on from one subject to another, and παριών “in passing”.[4]

Its most typical Attic use is “to come forward” to speak in the assembly or the lawcourt: the orators were οἱ παριόντες, “those who come forward”.[4] The medieval language kept the senses “to pass by” and “to surpass”.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey uses the participle “passing by”.[2][4]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for passing by and going in, and Thucydides for an army marching along the coast.[4][7]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Plato use it for coming forward and for passing on in a discussion.[4][7]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Aeschines use it of speakers coming forward to address the people.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pass by, go past; of an army, to march along a coast.[4][2]
  2. To pass, overtake, surpass.[4][8]
  3. To pass in, enter.[4]
  4. (in speech) To pass on from one subject to another; participle, “in passing”.[4]
  5. To come forward; especially to come forward to speak in the assembly: οἱ παριόντες, the orators.[4]
  6. To pass from man to man, of a watchword.[4]

Word family

  • παριτητέος (paritētéos)

Usage notes

The two verbs share many forms and were easily confused in the manuscripts: editors have corrected παρῆσαν “they were present” to παρῇσαν “they came forward” in Demosthenes and Aeschines, and LSJ suggests reading a form of the second verb in a passage of Herodotus too.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  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 e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c 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
  6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  8. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
Cite this entry

“Πάρειμι.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CF%80%CE%AC%CF%81%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%BC%CE%B9. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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