πρός

Forms

πρός (prós) ^[1] Epic and Argive also προτί (protí) and πρότι (próti), Cretan πορτί (portí) with metathesis, Pamphylian περτ' (pert'), and Aeolic πρές (prés) according to the grammarians.^[2][3] Epic and Doric use ποτί (potí) instead, Doric also ποί, and Arcadian and Cypriot πός (pós); these words have a separate source.^[1][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *próti (“against, towards”).^[2][1] The epic form προτί (protí) is the same word as Sanskrit प्रति (práti, “towards, against”), except that Brugmann's Law, which should have lengthened its vowel, did not act, and Beekes takes this as a sign of a form *preti, perhaps preserved in Pamphylian περτ' (pert').^[2] Other cognates are Old Church Slavonic противъ (protivŭ, “against”) and Latvian pret (“opposite”).^[2][3] Beekes also compares Latin pretium (“price”) as “the opposite equivalent”, a link that Chantraine thinks doubtful.^[2][3]

The usual form arose from the epic one when /ti/ before a vowel was assibilated to /s/; the same final -ος appears in πάρος (páros) and πός (pós).^[2][3] A connection with πρό (pró, “before”) and πρόσω (prósō) is possible.^[2][3][1] ποτί (potí) has the same meaning but another origin.^[3][1] Of its cases, the dative continues the old locative case, while the use with the genitive is a Greek innovation.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, mostly with the accusative of direction (“towards, to”), less often with the dative of place (“at, against”) and with the genitive (“from, on the side of”).^[5][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Its basic idea is direction, “on the side of”, and the three cases divide it: with the genitive the point from which something comes or on whose side it is (“from”, “before” the gods as witnesses, “in the name of” in oaths and prayers, descent “on the father's side”); with the dative the place by or against which something is (“at, near, besides”); with the accusative the goal or the person addressed (“towards, to, against”), and then time, relation and purpose (“towards evening”, “with regard to”, “in view of”).^[5][4][3]

As an adverb it means “besides, in addition”, and in compounds it adds “towards” (προσάγω (proságō), προσέρχομαι (prosérkhomai)), “in addition” (προσκτάομαι (prosktáomai)) or “beside”, or weakens to little more than intensity, as in προσδέχομαι (prosdékhomai) and προσδοκάω (prosdokáō).^[3][5]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is one of the commonest prepositions, mostly with the accusative.^[7][8] It survives in Modern Greek, as Modern Greek προς (pros) and in compounds; some of its uses are learned revivals of the ancient ones, and two are semantic loans from French à.^[3][9][10]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it, also in the forms προτί and ποτί, mostly with the accusative.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with the genitive of descent, “on the father's side”.^[5][11]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it with the genitive, “in the eyes of” gods and men.^[5][11]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it, mostly with the accusative, of direction and of speaking to someone.^[8][4]
• Modern Greek – The preposition survives as προς (pros), partly in learned uses taken from the ancient language.^[9][12]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with the genitive) from, coming from a place or a person; on the side of, towards a place.^[5][4]
2. (with the genitive) Before, in the presence or the eyes of (gods, men); in oaths and prayers, in the name of, by.^[5][4]
3. (with the genitive) From, at the hands of, of a cause; of descent, on the side of (“on the father's side”); befitting, characteristic of.^[5][3]
4. (with the dative) At, near, by; up against, clinging to; in the presence of a judge.^[4][5]
5. (with the dative) In addition to, besides.^[5][3]
6. (with the accusative) towards, to a place or person; facing; of speaking, to; of fighting, against.^[4][5]
7. (with the accusative) Of time, towards, near (evening, dawn); at the approach of old age.^[4]
8. (with the accusative) In relation to, with regard to; in accordance with, in view of.^[5][3]

Adverb

1. Besides, in addition, moreover.^[2][3][5]

Word family

• προσάγω (proságō)
• προσέρχομαι (prosérkhomai)
• προσδέχομαι (prosdékhomai)
• προσδοκάω (prosdokáō)

Related words

• ποτί (potí)
• πρό (pró)
• πρόσω (prósō)

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 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 d e f g h i j k l m n 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ^ 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. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας