πέρα

Forms

πέρᾱ (pérā) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a fixed case form from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, across”).^[1][2] Frisk and Chantraine take πέρα and πέραν (pérān) as case forms of a noun meaning “the other side”: the form in -ν being its accusative and the other an instrumental (or, for Frisk, perhaps a neuter plural).^[3][2] The noun itself is still found in Aeschylus.^[2][4]

It belongs to the family of πέρι (péri), πόρος (póros) and πέρνημι (pérnēmi).^[2][5] It matches Avestan para (“away, aside”), beside the adjective Old Persian para- (“on the other side”).^[3][2] A link with Latin perperam (“wrongly”) is uncertain.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aeschylus, while the accusative form is Homeric, meaning beyond, further.^[6][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Attic it is used for movement or position beyond a point, with a genitive “beyond, further than”, and of time, “longer, past”.^[7][4] In tragedy and comedy it often means “further, more”, of speaking or of excess: Sophocles has πέρα λέξαι “to say too much”.^[4][7] Comparatives were formed from περαῖος (peraîos), such as περαιτέρω (peraitérō, “further”).^[2][8]

In the Septuagint πέρα and πέραν mean “beyond, on the other side of” a river, rendering Hebrew.^[9] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for “farther” and, with the article, for the opposite side or bank.^[10] Modern Greek πέρα (péra) “over there, beyond” is from πέραν, the final -ν lost after other adverbs in -α.^[11]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for “beyond”.^[6][12]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for “beyond measure”, of speaking too much.^[4][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for “further”, and Xenophon of time, “longer”.^[4][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it with a genitive, “further than”.^[4][7][12]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for “farther” and for the opposite bank.^[10]
• Modern Greek – πέρα (péra) means over there, beyond.^[11]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Beyond, further, to a more advanced point; with a genitive, further than a limit.^[7][4]
2. Of time: longer; with a genitive, past a time.^[7][4]
3. Further, more, of speaking or of degree; beyond measure, excessively.^[7][4]
4. (preposition, with a genitive) Beyond, on the far side of.^[7][9]

Word family

• περάω (peráō)
• περαῖος (peraîos)
• περαιτέρω (peraitérō)

Related words

• πέραν (pérān)

Usage notes

LSJ lists a second πέρα, a noun meaning the land on the other side, the same as περαία (peraía), in Aeschylus; the Argive πέρανδε “to a foreign city” belongs with it.^[4][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge