Etymologically
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πρέσβυς

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /préz.bys/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈprez.βys/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈprez.vys/[1]

Forms

πρέσβῠς (présbus) m (feminine πρέσβειᾰ, neuter πρέσβῠ); first/third declension[1] Laconian πρέσγυς (présgus) (Alcman).[2] Cretan πρεῖγυς (preîgus), superlative πρείγιστος (preígistos), verb πρειγεύω (preigeúō);[3][4] Locrian πρείγα (preíga) “council of elders”;[3][4] Boeotian πρισγεῖες (prisgeîes) “ambassadors”.[3][4]

Etymology

Beekes reconstructs it as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pres-gʷeu- (“who goes in front”).[3] Doric, especially Cretan, and Northwest Greek have forms with ⟨γ⟩ for ⟨β⟩, such as Cretan πρεῖγυς (preîgus);[3][4] Beekes takes the common basis to be a stem with ⟨σγ⟩, voiced as in Delphian πρεζβευτάς (prezbeutás), and the alternation of /b/ and /g/ as the trace of a labiovelar /gʷ/.[3][4]

The first part is generally taken as a frozen adverb πρές (prés, “in front”), seen in πρός (prós), from Proto-Indo-European *pres (“before, in front”).[3][1] The second part is debated.[3][1] It has been compared with Sanskrit पुरोगव (purogavá-, “leader”), whose second part comes from a root *gʷew- (“to go”), a variant of *gʷem-, so “one who goes in front”;[3][1] others think of *gʷṓws (“cattle”), “one who leads the cattle”.[1] A third view starts from *preisgʷu- and compares Old Armenian երէց (erēcʻ, “elder, priest”) and Latin prīscus (“ancient”);[3][1] Beekes finds the Armenian link tempting, but Clackson doubts that the sounds match.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has only the comparative πρεσβύτερος (presbúteros, “elder”) and the superlative πρεσβύτατος (presbútatos, “eldest”).[5][6] The positive appears in Alcman and Pindar, meaning an “old man”, often as a term of respect.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the sense “old man” the word is poetic and occurs only in the nominative, accusative and vocative; prose uses πρεσβύτης (presbútēs).[5] Chantraine stresses that it meant seniority with the privileges attached to it, so that it stands nearer to γέρων (gérōn) than to γηραιός (gēraiós), and that it most often meant an important person or an ambassador.[4] In Sparta it was the title of a president.[3][4]

The plural πρέσβεις (présbeis) “ambassadors” is the usual form in Attic and in Doric inscriptions, with πρεσβεύω (presbeúō, “to be an ambassador”) and πρεσβεία (presbeía, “embassy”).[3][4][7] The Homeric compound πρεσβυγενής (presbugenḗs, “first-born, elder”) keeps the older meaning.[4]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word and its meaning, also spelled with ⟨-βης⟩.[8] Modern Greek πρέσβης (présvis, “ambassador”) is a learned form of it, adapted to the nouns in ⟨-ης⟩.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses the superlative πρεσβύτατος (presbútatos, “eldest”).[6][5]
  • 7th century BC – Alcman uses the Laconian form for an old man.[2][10]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it of old men;[2][10] Aeschylus calls Agamemnon the elder brother with it.[2][5][10]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses the plural for ambassadors.[2][10]
  • Medieval – Vernacular Greek keeps the word.[8]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek πρέσβης (présvis) means an ambassador.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An old man, often as a term of respect; in the plural, addressing them, elders.[2][5]
  2. (as an adjective) Elder, of the older of two brothers.[2]
  3. (usually plural) An ambassador.[2][3]
  4. (Sparta) A president.[3]

Word family

  • πρεσβεία (presbeía)
  • πρεσβεῖον (presbeîon)
  • πρεσβεύω (presbeúō)
  • πρεσβύτερος (presbúteros)
  • πρεσβύτης (presbútēs)
  • πρός (prós)
  • Latin prīscus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  8. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge