πορεύω

Forms

πορεύω (poreúō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a verb from Ancient Greek πόρος (póros, “passage, ford, way”), with the suffix -εύω (-eúō).^[1][2][3] Beekes lists the verb, “to carry, provide”, among the derivatives of the o-grade noun, which belongs to πείρω (peírō, “to pierce, pass through”) and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to cross, pass”).^[4] The old meaning “to carry over, to ferry” is still found in the noun itself and in πορθμός (porthmós).^[4] The root is also that of Latin portāre (“to carry”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The active is first found in Pindar, meaning to make someone go, to carry or convey someone.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy the active means to convey or send someone, to carry things, or, with two accusatives, to ferry someone over a river: in Sophocles the centaur Nessus carried travellers across for pay.^[2][3] The middle and the passive aorist ἐπορεύθην mean “to go, travel, march” in Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon.^[2][3] Sophocles already uses the middle for how one lives, “walks”, and this sense is frequent in the Septuagint, of walking in God's laws.^[2][5] Plato and Xenophon use it of an argument that proceeds, and Julian of going one's way, that is dying.^[2]

The New Testament has only the middle and passive: to go, to travel, to conduct oneself, and, as a euphemism, to go to one's death.^[5] Medieval vernacular Greek also had the form πορεύγω (porévgo) and used the verb mostly in the middle; the active was rare.^[6] Today Modern Greek πορεύομαι (porévomai) is a learned word for walking or marching.^[7]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the active for carrying someone on a journey.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for ferrying people over a river, and the middle for how a man lives.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use the passive aorist ἐπορεύθην for going and marching.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use the middle of an argument that proceeds.^[2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use the middle, the form πορεύγω (porévgo) and, rarely, the active.^[6]
• Modern Greek – πορεύομαι (porévomai) survives as a learned word.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make someone go, to convey or carry someone by land or sea; with two accusatives, to ferry someone over.^[2][3]
2. To send or lead someone; to lead an army.^[2][3]
3. To bring or carry a thing; to furnish; to set in motion.^[2][3]
4. (middle and passive) To go, travel, march; to pass over a region.^[2][3][5]
5. (middle) To live, conduct oneself, “walk”.^[2][5]
6. (middle, of discourse) To proceed.^[2]
7. (middle, euphemistic) To go one's way, to die.^[2][5]

Word family

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

Related words

• πόρος (póros)
• πείρω (peírō)
• πορθμός (porthmós)
• πορίζω (porízō)
• ἄπορος (áporos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ a b 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