ποταμός

Forms

ποτᾰμός (potamós) m (genitive ποτᾰμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Its formation is like that of οὐλαμός (oulamós) and πλόκαμος (plókamos), but its root is uncertain.^[2] It was long connected with πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”), aorist ἔπετον (épeton), as a "waterfall" or torrent sweeping things away, but that root ended in *h₁ and cannot explain the vowel of -αμ-.^[2][3] Others connected it with πετάννυμι (petánnumi, “to spread out”), comparing Old Saxon fathmos and Old English fæþm (“embrace, fathom”).^[2][1] In Beekes's view it is more probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to fly”), the root of ἔπτατο (éptato), which is formally more attractive and semantically possible.^[2][1] A connection with Lithuanian tekù (“to run”) would need a metathesis.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[2][4] In the Iliad it is a river, and Ocean is the stream from which all rivers flow.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Homer gives rivers many epithets, deep-eddying, fair-flowing, fed by Zeus, and treats them as gods.^[5][6] Aeschylus and Pindar speak of rivers of volcanic fire.^[6] The proverb "upstream go the rivers", in Aeschylus and Euripides, was said of things turned upside down.^[5]

In the New Testament it is the Jordan or the Euphrates, and also the torrents that sweep a house away.^[7] The diminutive ποτάμιον (potámion) became medieval ποτάμιν and Modern Greek ποτάμι (potámi), beside learned Modern Greek ποταμός (potamós).^[3][8] Modern Greek keeps the proverb as άνω ποταμών, of something beyond all reason.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for rivers and river gods.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for a stream of lava.^[6][9]
• 5th century BC – Euripides quotes the proverb of the rivers flowing upstream.^[5][9]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it for the Jordan.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as ποταμός beside the everyday ποτάμι.^[8][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A river or stream.^[5][6][7]
2. A river god.^[6]
3. (figurative) A river of volcanic fire or lava.^[6]

Word family

• μεσοποτάμιος (mesopotámios)
• ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos)
• ποτάμιος (potámios)
• ποτάμιον (potámion)

Related words

• English hippopotamus

Usage notes

The proverb ἄνω ποταμῶν, “upstream go the rivers”, was said of something unnatural or contrary to expectation.^[5][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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
3. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge