Etymologically
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πρῶτος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /prɔ̂ː.tos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpro.tos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpro.tos/[1]

Forms

πρῶτος (prôtos) m (feminine πρώτη, neuter πρῶτον); first/second declension[1] Doric (Epicharmus, Theocritus) and Boeotian πρᾶτος (prâtos).[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes takes it as inherited, perhaps inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃-to- (“first”), with the ordinal suffix also seen in τρίτος (trítos) and τέταρτος (tétartos).[4][2] The root is the one in Sanskrit पूर्व (pū́rva-, “former, first”) and Lithuanian pìrmas (“first”), which have other suffixes.[4][5][1] Chantraine notes that the ordinal suffix, the same as that of the superlative, suits a word meaning “the first” particularly well.[2]

The Doric and Boeotian form πρᾶτος (prâtos) is the difficulty: it seems to continue *pr̥h₂-to-, with a different laryngeal, and Beekes holds that the two forms cannot be brought back to one root.[4] Chantraine, following Lejeune, allows that a long syllabic /r̥/ could give both ⟨ρω⟩ and ⟨ρᾱ⟩, so that the two forms could coexist;[2] Frisk explains the alternation instead as a partial assimilation to πρό (pró) and πρότερος (próteros).[5]

Wiktionary analyses it as from Ancient Greek πρό (pró, “before”) + -ατος (-atos, “superlative suffix”), Proto-Hellenic *pro-atos, comparing ἔσχατος (éskhatos, “furthest”) and ὕπατος (húpatos, “highest”).[1] Beekes and Frisk object that such a contraction could explain the Attic-Ionic form but not the Doric one.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, of warriors in the front ranks and of a door as the outer one, and generally for the first of two or more persons or things; its neuter forms πρῶτον (prôton) and πρῶτα (prôta) serve as adverbs, “first”.[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word joins the notion of rank and importance to that of order.[2] Homer already has compounds with it as first member, such as πρωτόγονος (prōtógonos, “first-born”), said of animals, and πρωτοτόκος (prōtotókos, “bearing for the first time”), and a new superlative, πρώτιστος (prṓtistos, “the very first”), was made on it.[2][5] Attic formed πρωτεῖον (prōteîon, “first prize, first place”) and πρωτεύω (prōteúō, “to be first”).[5]

In philosophy Aristotle used it for what is primary or fundamental, such as first matter or substance, and for the original, primitive form of households, cities and constitutions.[3] In late Greek it formed the titles of officials, such as πρωτοφύλαξ (prōtophúlax).[2]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word with the same form and meanings.[6] It survives as Modern Greek πρώτος (prótos), partly as a learned form, and some of its uses copy French premier.[7] Through proto- it has given English a word-forming element meaning “first, earliest, original”.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the front ranks and for the first of several, and the neuter plural for a first prize.[3][4]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it of the foremost, leading men.[3][9]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides has the compound πρωτοστάτης (prōtostátēs, “one who stands in the front rank”).[2][9]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the neuter for the beginning of a speech or a poem.[3][9]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for what is primary or fundamental.[3][9]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it with a genitive, “earlier than”.[3][10]
  • Medieval – Vernacular Greek keeps the word and its meanings.[6]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek πρώτος (prótos) continues it.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Foremost in position: of warriors, in the front ranks; of a door, outer.[3]
  2. First of two or more in a list or sequence; in the New Testament, with a genitive, earlier than.[3][10]
  3. Used almost as an adverb: first (of a person doing something before others).[3]
  4. Occurring first, early (of dawn).[3]
  5. First in existence: original, primitive;[3] (philosophy) primary, fundamental.[3]
  6. First in rank or importance, leading; as a noun, a foremost man or leader.[3][10]
  7. (neuter plural) The first prize.[3]
  8. Set phrases: τὴν πρώτην (tḕn prṓtēn) “for a start”; ἐν πρώτοις (en prṓtois) “above all”.[3]

Word family

  • πάμπρωτος (pámprōtos)
  • πρωτεῖον (prōteîon)
  • πρώτιστος (prṓtistos)
  • πρῶτον (prôton)
  • πρῶτα (prôta)
  • πρωτεῖος (prōteîos)
  • πρωτολόγος (prōtológos)
  • πρό (pró)
  • πρότερος (próteros)
  • English proto-

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  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
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  10. ^ 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