πορεύομαι

Forms

πορεύομαι (poreúomai), the middle of πορεύω (poreúō) “to convey”; future πορεύσομαι, aorist ἐπορεύθην, perfect πεπόρευμαι.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is the middle of πορεύω (poreúō), formed from Ancient Greek πόρος (póros, “passage, way”) + -εύω (-eúō).^[3][2][4] Beekes and Frisk list the verb among the o-grade derivatives of πείρω (peírō, “to pierce, pass through”).^[5][6]

The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *por-o-, of the root Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to cross, pass over”);^[5] the old sense “to carry over, ferry” survives in the noun and in πορθμός (porthmós, “ferry”).^[5][6] Cognate with Sanskrit पिपर्ति (píparti, “brings across”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌽 (faran, “to wander”) and 𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (farjan, “to ferry over”), and Latin portō (“to carry”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Babiniotis dates the verb to Alcaeus in the 7th century BC, with the original sense “to pass, cross over”.^[4] The active, “to convey”, is in Pindar and the tragedians, and the middle “to go, travel” is common from Herodotus and tragedy on.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek the middle means to go on one's way, travel by land or sea, and of troops to march, and Herodotus uses the aorist for the king's crossing of a bridge of boats, and Xenophon contrasts going by land with going by sea.^[1][2] Figuratively one “walks” into a trap or conducts oneself arrogantly, a speaker proceeds to a topic, and vice advances through pleasures.^[2][1] Sophocles already uses it for the way a person lives.^[1]

The Septuagint uses it more than 1,200 times, for walking and marching, for water flowing and borders running, and above all for “walking” in the laws, that is, living by them.^[7][1] In the New Testament it is the ordinary verb for going or travelling, and also for conducting one's life.^[8] Late writers such as Julian use it for dying, “going one's way”.^[1]

Modern Greek πορεύομαι (porévome) is a learned word for walking, marching or proceeding; a more popular verb of the same form means to get by, make ends meet.^[9]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses the verb, according to Babiniotis.^[4][10]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the active for conveying someone.^[2][1]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and the tragedians use the middle for going, travelling and marching.^[1][2]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for the way a person lives.^[1]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for living by the law.^[7][1][11]
• 4th century AD – Julian uses it for dying.^[1][10]
• Modern Greek – The learned πορεύομαι (porévome) means to walk or march.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be driven or carried.^[1]
2. To go, travel, journey; of soldiers, to march; to cross a strait or bridge.^[1][2][8]
3. To travel over, traverse (with the accusative).^[1]
4. (figurative) To proceed in argument or speech; to conduct oneself, to live (in the Septuagint, “to walk in the laws”).^[1][2][7]
5. (law) To proceed at law.^[1]
6. (late) To depart, die.^[1]

Word family

• πορεία (poreíā)
• πορεῖον (poreîon)
• πόρευμα (póreuma)
• πόρευσις (póreusis)
• πορευτικός (poreutikós)

Related words

• πορεύω (poreúō)
• πόρος (póros)
• πείρω (peírō)
• πορθμός (porthmós)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux