πόρρω

Forms

πόρρω (pórrhō), the Attic form of πόρσω and πρόσω; comparative πορρωτέρω, superlative πορρωτάτω.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is the Attic form, from Ancient Greek πόρσω (pórsō, “forward, far”).^[3][4][5] Chantraine, followed by Babiniotis, derives the older form by metathesis of the syllable with the liquid from πρόσω (prósō, “forward”), which has the same meaning and is in turn formed on πρό (pró, “before”).^[4][5] Frisk, after Schwyzer, compared Latin porrō (“forward, further”), which would continue an older form with /rs/.^[4][3] Beekes leaves this open, and Babiniotis finds it unconvincing.^[4][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in Attic prose and comedy of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, in Plato, Xenophon and the orators, where Homer, Ionic and tragedy use πρόσω.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

It means “forwards” of movement and “far, far off” of distance, and with a genitive “far from” a place, a danger or the right.^[1][2] Of time it means far on: far into the night, or far advanced in life.^[1] Isocrates uses it with an infinitive, of being far from doing something.^[1]

The New Testament uses it of being far away, and in the comparative of going further, in Luke, while Matthew and Mark use it in a quotation from Isaiah, of being far removed from someone.^[6] In Modern Greek it survives as a learned word, mostly in the phrase πόρρω απέχει (pórro apéchei) “is very far from”.^[7][8][5]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it for “far” and “forwards” in Attic prose.^[2][1]
• 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates uses it of being far from danger.^[6][1]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of being far away and of going further.^[6]
• Modern Greek – The learned adverb survives mostly in the phrase “is far from”.^[7][8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Forwards, onwards, further.^[1][2]
2. Far off, far away; with a genitive or ἀπό, far from.^[1][6]
3. (figurative) Far ahead in wisdom or skill; far from what is right.^[1]
4. Of time: far on, late into the night or day; far advanced in life.^[1]

Word family

• πόρρωθεν (pórrhōthen)

Related words

• πρόσω (prósō)
• πρό (pró)
• Latin porrō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d 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
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr