πατριά

Forms

πᾰτρῐᾱ́ (patriā́) f (genitive πᾰτρῐᾶς); first declension^[1] Ionic πατριή.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a derivative from Ancient Greek πατήρ (patḗr, “father”), “what comes from the father”.^[2][3][4] The NIL places it in a group of adjectives and nouns from the Indo-European *ph₂tr-iyo-, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”), with πάτριος (pátrios, “of one's fathers”), Sanskrit पित्र्य (pítrya-, “paternal”), Latin patrius (“paternal”) and Latin patria (“fatherland”).^[5] The Ionic form is πατριή (patriḗ).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus, in the 5th century BC, uses it for paternal lineage, when he says that a man traced the descent of Cyrus, and for the clans of the Babylonians.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

An inscription of the 5th century BC from Elis and Delphian inscriptions use it for a clan, a group of families of common descent, like πάτρα (pátrā).^[2][3] The word is rare in classical literature but very common in the Septuagint, which uses it about 180 times, mostly in the books of the Law, for a paternal house or family within a tribe, and also for a people or nation.^[7][6] The New Testament follows this usage: Luke speaks of one “of the house and family of David”, and Acts speaks of “all the families of the earth”.^[4] In Ephesians 3.15 it is part of a play on words, every “family” in heaven and on earth being named after the Father.^[4][2] The Etymologicum Magnum derives it from πατήρ and distinguishes it from the word for a native city.^[8]

Late Roman law used the plural for the Latin patrum officia.^[2] Medieval Greek kept it for a tribe or race and a family,^[9] and today Modern Greek πατριά (patriá) is a sociological term for the line of ancestors on the father's side and for a kinship group of primitive societies.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for paternal descent and for clans; an inscription from Elis uses it for a clan.^[2][4]
• 3rd century BC – The Septuagint uses it often, from Exodus on, for families within the tribes of Israel.^[7][6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the family of David and the families of the earth.^[4]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use πατριά (patriá) for a race and a family.^[9]
• Modern Greek – πατριά (patriá) is a term of sociology for paternal ancestry and a kinship group.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lineage, descent, especially on the father's side.^[2][3]
2. A clan, a group of families of common descent.^[2][4]
3. (Septuagint, New Testament) A family or house, a subdivision of a tribe; also a people or nation.^[7][4]
4. (late Roman law, plural) Offices of the fathers, Latin patrum officia.^[2]

Word family

• πατριάρχης (patriárkhēs)
• πατριώτης (patriṓtēs)

Related words

• πατήρ (patḗr)
• πάτρα (pátrā)
• πάτριος (pátrios)
• πατρίς (patrís)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f g h 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki