περάω

Forms

περᾰ́ω (peráō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Ancient Greek πέρα (pérā, “beyond”), or from its companion adverb πέραν (pérān, “across, on the other side”).^[2][1] Both adverbs are fixed case forms of a lost noun meaning “the other side”, which belongs to the large family of Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, across”).^[2][3][1] Wiktionary compares Albanian prura (“to bring, lead”).^[1]

The verb has Ionic and Epic forms with ⟨η⟩ for Attic ⟨ᾱ⟩ in the future and aorist (περήσω (perḗsō), ἐπέρησα (epérēsa)) and an Aeolic aorist ἐπέραισα (epéraisa).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning to cross to the other side of a stretch of water or land: in the Iliad the ships are given to the Arcadians to cross the sea.^[5][4][6] Homer also uses it of passing a ditch and the gates of Hades, and of a spear point passing through the teeth.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

From “cross over” the verb widened to “pass beyond” a guard, a border or a limit, and then to “go too far” or “transgress” an oath in tragedy.^[5][4] With a time span or a task as object it came to mean “go through to the end, complete”: Pindar of a term of office, Aeschylus of a danger, Euripides of the last day of life, Xenophon of a voyage.^[5][4]

The present stem was little used in later Greek, and compounds such as διαπεράω (diaperáō) were common.^[7][8] Medieval Greek remade it as περνώ (pernó) on the aorist stem περασ-, after the model of κέρασα beside κερνώ, and this is Modern Greek περνώ (pernó) “pass”.^[9][10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for crossing the sea, a ditch or a region, and of a weapon passing through.^[5][4][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses the aorist in the Works and Days for crossing the sea.^[6][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of passing through a danger.^[4][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of getting past guards.^[4][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of completing a voyage and of passing through life.^[5][12]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek has the remade present περνώ (pernó), built on the aorist stem.^[10][9]
• Modern Greek – περνώ (pernó) means to pass.^[9][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cross, go to the other side of a sea, river, ditch or region.^[5][4]
2. To go beyond, pass a place, border or guard.^[5][4]
3. To pass through, penetrate, of rain through bushes or a weapon through the body.^[5][4]
4. (intransitive) To pass, cross from, to or through a place.^[5]
5. To cross a threshold, enter or leave a house; to reach a place.^[5]
6. To go through to the end, complete: a danger, a term of office, a voyage, one's life.^[5][4]
7. To go too far; to transgress an oath.^[5][4]

Word family

• πέραμα (pérāma)

Related words

• πέρα (pérā)
• πέραν (pérān)
• περαῖος (peraîos)

Usage notes

LSJ lists a second περάω “to sell” only as a cross-reference: forms such as the aorist ἐπέρασσα belong to πέρνημι (pérnēmi) “sell”, and a present περάω with that sense was wrongly inferred from them.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ 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 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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 Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge