πατρίς

Forms

πᾰτρῐ́ς (patrís) f (genitive πᾰτρῐ́δος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πατήρ (patḗr, “father”) + -ίς (-ís),^[1] as the feminine of πάτριος (pátrios, “of one's fathers”).^[2][3][4] The noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it as an adjective with words for land (“the land of one's fathers”), and already in the Iliad as a noun, “fatherland”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it became the ordinary word for one's native land or city.^[3][5] Aristophanes quotes the saying that every land where one does well is one's fatherland, and Plutarch calls the underworld the common fatherland.^[3] In Hellenistic papyri and in the Gospel of Mark it means one's native town.^[3][4] The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of a heavenly fatherland.^[4]

Medieval Greek used both πατρίς and πατρίδα.^[6] Modern πατρίδα (patrída) continues the ancient accusative, while πατρίς (patrís) is learned and found mostly in set phrases.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the homeland, the Odyssey with words for “land”.^[3][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes quotes the saying that home is wherever one prospers.^[3]
• 2nd century BC – A papyrus uses it of a native village.^[3]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Mark uses it of Jesus' home town.^[3][4]
• Modern Greek – πατρίδα (patrída) is the everyday word for homeland.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of one's fathers, ancestral, native, of a land or city.^[3][5]

Noun

1. Fatherland, homeland, native land.^[3][5]
2. One's native town or village.^[3][4]
3. (figurative) A heavenly home.^[4]

Related words

• πατριά (patriā́)
• πάτρα (pátrā)
• πατριώτης (patriṓtēs)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f 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
5. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki