Etymologically
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πατήρ

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pa.tɛ̌ːr/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /paˈtir/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /paˈtir/[1]

Forms

πᾰτήρ (patḗr) m (genitive πᾰτρός or πᾰτέρος); third declension[1] Mycenaean pa-te, on a tablet from Pylos (An 607).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *patḗr, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”), the inherited word for the father as head of the family, kept in most Indo-European languages.[1][3]

Cognate with Sanskrit पितृ (pitṛ́), Latin pater, Old English fæder, Old Armenian հայր (hayr) and Phrygian πατερης (paterēs).[1][3][4] Derivatives match too: πάτριος (pátrios) agrees with patrius, and πάτρως (pátrōs, “father's brother”) may match patruus.[3][4] The address to Zeus as father is an inherited formula, matching Iuppiter.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is on a Mycenaean tablet from Pylos as Mycenaean Greek pa-te.[2][3] In the Iliad it is first used of Chryses, to whom his daughter must be given back.[6][7] Homer also calls Zeus the father of gods and men, uses the vocative as a respectful address to an older man, and the plural for forefathers.[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine stresses its social value: πατήρ is the father as the head of the family and a link in the line of generations, so πατέρες means “ancestors”.[5] Herodotus calls a king the father of his people and uses the word of the mother city of colonists.[9] Plato calls Parmenides “father” as a teacher, names the creator god father of the world, and, playing on τόκος (tókos, “offspring; interest”), calls the principal of a loan its father.[9] The word also forms names such as Πάτροκλος and Κλεοπάτρα.[10]

In the New Testament it is God the Father, of humans and of Jesus Christ.[9][11] Medieval Greek used it for the Father of the Trinity and for spiritual guides.[12] The new form Byzantine Greek πατέρας (patéras) is found in texts of the 12th century.[12] In Modern Greek πατέρας (patéras) is the everyday word; Modern Greek πατήρ (patír) is learned, used as a title of priests and monks and for the first person of the Trinity.[13][10]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean – Mycenaean Greek pa-te on a tablet from Pylos.[2][3]
  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for a father, for Zeus, and in the plural for ancestors.[6][8]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it figuratively of a king and of the mother city of colonists.[9][14]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato calls the creator god “father”.[9][14]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of God the Father.[9][11]
  • 12th century – The vernacular form Byzantine Greek πατέρας (patéras) is first recorded.[12]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek πατέρας (patéras) is the everyday word; Modern Greek πατήρ (patír) is a learned title.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A father; πατρὸς πατήρ, a grandfather.[9][7]
  2. (figurative) A father of a people, a respected teacher; in the vocative, a respectful address to an older man.[9][8]
  3. An epithet of Zeus, father of gods and men.[9][8]
  4. (New Testament) God the Father.[9][11]
  5. (plural) Forefathers, ancestors.[9][8]
  6. (figurative) Author, originator; the creator god.[9]
  7. (figurative) The principal of a loan.[9]

Word family

  • πάτρα (pátrā)
  • πατριά (patriā́)
  • πάτριος (pátrios)
  • πατρίς (patrís)
  • πατρικός (patrikós)
  • πατρόθεν (patróthen)
  • εὐπατρίδης (eupatrídēs)
  • πάτρως (pátrōs)
  • πατρῷος (patrōîos)
  • ἀπάτωρ (apátōr)
  • πατροφόνος (patrophónos)
  • πατρυιός (patruiós)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
  5. ^ a b 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
  6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge