παρά

Forms

πᾰρᾰ́ (pará) (governs the genitive, dative, and accusative)^[1] Epic and lyric also παραί; the shortened πάρ is Homeric and lyric and the usual form in the dialects other than Attic and Ionic.^[2][3][4] Mycenaean pa-ro, with the genitive and the dative-locative.^[5][4] It is elided to παρ᾽ before a vowel, and may follow its noun with the accent thrown back (θεοῦ πάρα “from a god”).^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pərai,^[1] from an Indo-European adverb Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- or *pr̥h₂- “in front, beside”.^[4][1] Beekes, following García Ramón, sets beside it a locative *preh₂-i, from which epic παραί (paraí) may come, and a genitive-ablative that gave πάρος (páros) “before”.^[4] Chantraine finds the ending of the epic form obscure and sees in it a particle rather than a locative case ending.^[3] The three forms mean the same thing, and the word lost the sense “forward” to πρό (pró).^[4]

Frisk compares the epic form with Latin prae and the short πάρ (pár) with Latin por-, and Wiktionary compares Mycenaean pa-ro.^[7][1] Mycenaean pa-ro has been explained by the analogy of other prepositions in -o such as ἀπό (apó), but Chantraine also considers an inherited variant of the vowel.^[3] It belongs to the same Indo-European family as πέρα (péra), περί (perí), πρίν (prín) and πρός (prós).^[4][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets from Knossos and Pylos already have pa-ro as a preposition with the genitive and the dative-locative.^[5] In Homer it is an adverb, “beside, alongside”, and a preposition with all three cases: with the genitive of coming from someone's side, with the dative of being at someone's side, and with the accusative of motion to a place beside or along something.^[6][2][8]

Semantic evolution

The basic idea is “beside”, and the case decides the direction: from beside (genitive), at the side of (dative), to or along the side of (accusative).^[2][6] From the genitive sense of coming from a person it marks the source of something received, learned or given, and the agent of a passive verb.^[6][2][3] With the dative it came to mean “in the house of”, “in the presence of” a judge or audience, and “in the judgement of” someone.^[6] With the accusative, “alongside and past” led to “beyond” and so to “contrary to”, as in παρὰ φύσιν “against nature” and παρὰ δίκην “unjustly”, and to comparison, “compared with”.^[6][2] With an expression of measure it gives “within”, as in παρὰ μικρόν “within a little, nearly”.^[6] Accented πάρα also stood for πάρεστι “it is possible”.^[3]

As a prefix (παρα-) it forms a great many compounds, such as παραδίδωμι (paradídōmi), παραλαμβάνω (paralambánō) and παράνομος (paránomos).^[3][6] In the Septuagint and the New Testament it keeps the three constructions.^[9][10] Coptic borrowed it as a preposition, Coptic ⲡⲁⲣⲁ (para), attested from about AD 200 in Sahidic and other dialects.^[11]

Medieval Greek kept the word.^[12] Modern Greek παρά (pará) is a preposition with the accusative meaning “in spite of, contrary to” and “except”, and its use with comparatives, “than”, goes back to Hellenistic Greek; it is also a conjunction “but, except”.^[13]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – Tablets from Knossos and Pylos have pa-ro with the genitive and the dative-locative.^[5]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it with the genitive, dative and accusative, and also as an adverb.^[2][6][14]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with the genitive for messages coming from a king.^[2][15]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it with the genitive for things given by the gods.^[2][15]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses ἡμέραν παρ᾽ ἡμέραν for “every other day”.^[6][15]
• About AD 200 – Coptic borrows it as ⲡⲁⲣⲁ (para).^[11]
• Modern Greek – παρά (pará) means “in spite of” and “than”, and is also a conjunction “but”.^[13]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with genitive) From the side of, from: of coming from a place or person, and of receiving, learning or getting something from someone.^[2][6]
2. (with genitive) Of the source or agent: given by, sent by, coming from someone, also with passive verbs.^[2][6]
3. (with dative) beside, by, near a place or person.^[2][6]
4. (with dative) In the house or company of, among; in the presence of a king, judge or audience.^[6]
5. (with dative) In the judgement of: παρ᾽ ἐμοί “in my opinion”.^[6][2]
6. (with accusative) To the side of, to someone's presence or house.^[6]
7. (with accusative) along a river, shore or road; alongside and past, beyond a place.^[6][2]
8. (with accusative) Of time: during, throughout; at a drinking party, παρὰ πότον.^[6]
9. (with accusative) Beyond, contrary to: παρὰ φύσιν “against nature”, παρὰ δύναμιν “beyond one's strength”.^[6][2]
10. (with accusative) In comparison with, compared to; at a value of, as worth little or nothing.^[6]
11. (with accusative) By a margin of, within: παρὰ μικρόν “nearly”.^[6]
12. (with accusative) Because of, owing to.^[6]

Adverb

1. Beside, alongside, near by.^[6][3]
2. (accented πάρα, for πάρεστι) It is possible.^[3]

Word family

• παραβαίνω (parabaínō)
• παραγίγνομαι (paragígnomai)
• παραδίδωμι (paradídōmi)
• παράδειγμα (parádeigma)
• παρακαλέω (parakaléō)
• παραλαμβάνω (paralambánō)
• παρασκευάζω (paraskeuázō)
• παρέχω (parékhō)
• πάρειμι (páreimi)
• παράδοξος (parádoxos)
• παράνομος (paránomos)
• πάροδος (párodos)
• παράκλητος (paráklētos)
• παράλληλος (parállēlos)
• παραβολή (parabolḗ)

Related words

• πάρος (páros)
• πέρα (péra)
• περί (perí)
• πρίν (prín)
• πρό (pró)
• πρός (prós)
• Latin prae
• English para-

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 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 h i 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
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
15. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge