πότερος

Forms

πότερος (póteros) m (feminine ποτέρᾱ, neuter πότερον); first/second declension^[1] Ionic κότερος (kóteros).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʷóteros,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷóteros (“which of two”), formed from the interrogative stem *kʷos (“which”) and the contrastive suffix *-teros.^[1][2][4] The same suffix is found in ἕτερος (héteros, “the other”) and ἑκάτερος (hekáteros, “each of two”).^[1][5]

Cognate with Sanskrit कतर (katará), Latin uter, Old English hwæþer and Lithuanian katràs, all meaning “which of two”; the English word whether is of the same origin.^[1][2][4] Beekes and Frisk note that its accent varies.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs only once in Homer, in an indirect question in the Iliad: one could not tell to which of two sides a warrior belonged.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it asks which of two, in direct and indirect questions, and GLAUx finds it mostly in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.^[7][3][8] Its neuter πότερον or πότερα opens a question with two alternatives, the second introduced by ἤ, “whether … or”; the earliest example is in Pindar.^[7] Sometimes a third or even a fourth alternative is added, or the second is left to be understood.^[7] Plato also uses it as an indefinite, “one or the other”.^[7][3]

In the Septuagint it occurs only in Job, and in the New Testament only as the fixed πότερον … ἤ.^[9] Modern Greek dictionaries still list πότερος (póteros) as a learned word from Ancient Greek.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it once, in an indirect question.^[6][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses πότερον … ἤ to set two alternatives.^[7][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the Ionic form κότερος.^[7][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it as an indefinite, “either of the two”.^[7][3][11]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of John uses only the adverb πότερον … ἤ.^[9]
• Modern Greek – πότερος (póteros) survives as a learned word.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Which of the two? in direct and indirect questions.^[7][3]
2. (indefinite) One or the other, either of two.^[7][3]
3. Neuter πότερον, πότερα, as an adverb opening a question with alternatives: whether … or (followed by ἤ).^[7][9]

Word family

• ὁπότερος (hopóteros)
• ποτέρως (potérōs)

Related words

• ἕτερος (héteros)
• πόθεν (póthen)
• Latin uter
• English whether

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge