σωτήρ

Forms

σωτήρ (sōtḗr) m (genitive σωτῆρος); third declension^[1] Poetic σαωτήρ (saōtḗr) in Simonides and Callimachus; vocative σῶτερ.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is an agent noun from Ancient Greek σῴζω (sōízō, “to save”), with the suffix -τήρ (-tḗr).^[1][2] Beekes lists it among the derivatives of the verb, which comes from the adjective σῶς (sôs, “safe, sound”).^[4] He traces the adjective and its family to a Proto-Greek *σάϝος (*sáwos), probably a thematised form of Proto-Indo-European *tu̯eh₂-u-s, though a link with the root “be strong” and with σῶμα (sôma) is quite uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Beekes gives the Homeric Hymns and Pindar as its first sources.^[4] In the Homeric Hymns Poseidon is the saviour of ships and the Dioscuri the saviours of men.^[2][3] The GLAUx corpus also has a plural in a fragment of Terpander, of the 7th century BC.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it was the saviour or preserver of persons and cities, a title of gods acting in a particular need, and above all an epithet of Zeus: sailors sacrificed to Zeus Soter after a safe voyage, and the third cup of wine at a feast was poured to him.^[2][3] Asclepius, Apollo and Hermes bore the title too.^[2][7] People were called saviours of their city as well, from tragedy and Thucydides on.^[3]

In the Hellenistic period it became an official title of rulers, such as Ptolemy I Soter and Antiochus Soter, and later of Roman emperors and governors.^[2][8] The Septuagint uses it of God, and the New Testament of God and of Christ, the “Saviour of the world” in John.^[2][8][9] It passed into Coptic as ⲥⲱⲧⲏⲣ (sōtēr), first in a manuscript dated about AD 600,^[10] and into Latin as sōtēr.^[11]

Modern Greek σωτήρας (sotíras) is a learned form of the ancient word; its sense for Christ goes back to Hellenistic Greek.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – The Homeric Hymns call Poseidon the saviour of ships and the Dioscuri saviours of men.^[2][3][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it as a title of Zeus and of the third libation.^[2][3][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the saviours of Greece.^[2][6]
• 3rd century BC – Ptolemaic inscriptions and papyri use it as a royal title.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of God and of Christ.^[7][8]
• About AD 600 – The earliest dated Coptic manuscript has the borrowing ⲥⲱⲧⲏⲣ (sōtēr).^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned σωτήρας (sotíras) means a rescuer, and the Saviour.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A saviour, deliverer, preserver, of a god or a person, with the genitive of what is saved or of what one is saved from.^[2][3]
2. A title of Ζεύς (Zeús), to whom the third cup of wine was poured; also of Apollo, Hermes and Asclepius.^[2][3]
3. A title of Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors.^[2][8]
4. (Septuagint, New Testament) The Saviour, of God and of Christ.^[2][7][9]
5. (poetic) As an adjective, saving, protecting.^[2][3]
6. The name of a month created by Caligula.^[2]

Word family

• σωτηρία (sōtēríā)
• σωτήριος (sōtḗrios)
• σώτειρα (sṓteira)

Related words

• σῴζω (sōízō)
• σῶς (sôs)
• Latin sōtēr
• English soteriology

Usage notes

Because the third cup belonged to Zeus Soter, the third time came to mean the lucky time.^[2] Chæréphon gives πρόβολος (próbolos) “defender” as a synonym and λυμεών (lumeṓn) “destroyer” as its opposite.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c 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 Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
11. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
14. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica