Etymologically
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πόρος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pó.ros/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpo.ros/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpo.ros/[1]

Forms

πόρος (póros) m (genitive πόρου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *por-o-, an action noun with the o-grade of Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to cross, pass”), the root of πείρω (peírō, “to pierce, run through”).[2][3][1] The old meaning of the root, “to carry over, ferry over”, still shows in πόρος and in πορθμός (porthmós, “ferry, strait”).[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit पिपर्ति (píparti, “brings across”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌽 (faran, “to wander”) and 𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (farjan, “to ferry over”), and with Latin portō (“to carry”), a denominative verb.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a place where a river can be crossed, a ford: the Iliad names Thryon, “the ford of the Alpheus”.[4][5] The Odyssey calls the sea “the paths of the sea”.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the ford the word spread to the stream itself, in Hesiod, Pindar and tragedy, and to a stretch of sea that can be crossed, a strait: Hesiod speaks of the strait of Ocean.[6][5] Herodotus uses it for a bridge, and inscriptions for an aqueduct.[5] More generally it is any way or path, and Xenophon uses it for the track of a wild beast.[5]

The philosophers and doctors used it for the passages through a porous body: Epicurus for the pores of the skin, Aristotle for the ducts of the body, and a dialogue of the Platonic corpus for the passages from the senses to the brain.[5] In another direction it became a way or means of doing something, as in Herodotus, a resource, opposed to ἀπορία (aporíā, “lack of means”) by Plato, a device in Aeschylus, and a way of raising money, revenue, in Xenophon and Demosthenes.[5][6][2]

Through Latin porus and Old French it gave English pore (late 14th century).[7] Modern Greek πόρος (póros) is a learned borrowing of the ancient word;[8] Tsakonian πόρε (póre) continues it.[8][1]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for a ford of the Alpheus.[4][5]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of the strait of Ocean.[5][6][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a bridge and for a means of finding something out.[5][9]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato contrasts it as “resource” with ἀπορία, and Xenophon uses it for revenue.[5][9]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the ducts of the body.[5][9]
  • Late 14th century – English pore appears, through Latin porus.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A ford, a place where a river can be crossed; a ferry.[5][6][4]
  2. A stream, the channel of a river.[6]
  3. A strait.[5][6] (poetic) the paths of the sea, the sea.[5][6]
  4. A bridge; an aqueduct.[5]
  5. A way, path; the track of an animal.[5]
  6. A passage in a porous body, a pore; a duct of the body.[5]
  7. A way or means of doing something; a resource, device.[5][6]
  8. A way of raising money.[5] (plural) revenue, earnings.[5][2]

Word family

  • ἄπορος (áporos)
  • δύσπορος (dúsporos)
  • ἔμπορος (émporos)
  • εὔπορος (eúporos)
  • εὐρύπορος (eurúporos)
  • ὠκύπορος (ōkúporos)
  • πεζοπόρος (pezopóros)
  • πορεύω (poreúō)
  • πορίζω (porízō)
  • πορθμός (porthmós)
  • ἀπορέω (aporéō)
  • πείρω (peírō)
  • περάω (peráō)
  • Latin porus
  • English pore

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ 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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge