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περιφέρω

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word περιφέρω

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
400s BC Herodotus, Euripides More words from the 5th century BC
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek φέρω
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek φέρω (phérō)
Ancient Greek περιφέρω (periphérō)
Derivations
περιφερής (peripherḗs)
From the same root
Ancient Greek ἀναφέρω (anaphérō) ← φέρω
Ancient Greek μεταφέρω (metaphérō) ← φέρω
Ancient Greek φερνή (phernḗ) ← φέρω

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pe.ri.pʰé.rɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /pe.riˈɸe.ro/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /pe.riˈfe.ro/[1]

Forms

περῐφέρω (periphérō) [1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek περι- (peri-, “around”) + φέρω (phérō, “to carry”).[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest uses are in Herodotus, of a lion carried round a city wall and of an arrow carried around the earth, and in Euripides, of carrying a child in one's arms.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Classical prose uses it for carrying round in a circle, as a sacrificial victim in a purification, for carrying about from place to place, and for passing food and wine round at table.[5][4] In the passive it was used of sayings that went round from mouth to mouth, and in Plato and Aristotle of bodies that revolve, such as the heavens.[4] Herodotus uses it for something that carries one's memory back, and Thucydides intransitively for holding out.[4] Later writers use it for bringing something round to a state, for making a person giddy, and, in the passive, for being turned giddy by the size of one's undertaking.[4]

In the New Testament the sick are carried about to Jesus, Paul speaks of carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, and believers are not to be carried about by every wind of doctrine.[7]

Medieval Greek kept the verb.[8] The modern Modern Greek περιφέρω (periféro) is learned; it means to carry around, as an icon in a procession, and in the passive to revolve or to wander about, and the set phrase “carry round the begging bowl” means to beg.[9][10]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it for carrying round and carrying about, and Thucydides for holding out.[4][5]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the passive for revolving and for sayings that go the rounds.[4]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the revolving heavens.[4]
  • 1st century BC – Asclepiodotus uses it for wheeling a unit of troops.[4]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of carrying the sick and of being carried about by doctrine.[7]
  • 2nd century AD – Appian uses it for bringing a country to famine or ruin.[4]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned verb.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To carry round in a circle; in the passive, to be carried round.[4][5]
  2. To carry about with one, from place to place.[4][5][7]
  3. To hand round, distribute (food or wine at table).[4][5]
  4. To turn round (the head, the gaze); (military) to wheel.[4]
  5. To spread about, make known; in the passive, to be current, go from mouth to mouth.[4]
  6. To bring round in the end, reduce (to a state).[4]
  7. To carry back in memory.[4]
  8. To make giddy, drive mad; in the passive, to be turned giddy.[4]
  9. (intransitive) To hold out, survive.[4]
  10. (passive) To go round, revolve.[4]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
  3. ^ Woordenboek Grieks/Nederlands (2012–), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, https://woordenboekgrieks.nl
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
Cite this entry

“Περιφέρω.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CF%80%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%86%CE%AD%CF%81%CF%89. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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