τρεῖς

Forms

τρεῖς (treîs) (ordinal τρῐ́τος, adverbial τρῐ́ς)^[1] Neuter τρία; genitive τριῶν, dative τρισί.^[2][3] Doric (Gortyn) τρέες, Thera τρῆς, Heraclea and Delphi τρῖς; dative Delphian τρίεσσι, Aeolic τρίσσι, Hipponax τριοῖσι; old Attic and Gortynian accusative τρῖς, τρίινς.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tréyes, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”).^[1][5] Cognate with Sanskrit त्रयः (tráyaḥ), Latin trēs, Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (þreis), Old Armenian երեք (erekʻ) and Old English þrēo.^[1][5][4]

The old accusative *trins survives as Gortynian τρίινς (tríins), made disyllabic after the genitive and dative, and contracted τρῖς (trîs); the Ionic-Attic accusative τρεῖς was taken from the nominative.^[5][4] The neuter τρία (tría) continues *trih₂.^[5] The adverb τρίς (trís, “three times”) agrees with Latin ter, and the ordinal τρίτος (trítos, “third”) with Tocharian B trite.^[5] Mycenaean already has the compound stem, in Mycenaean Greek ti-ri-po (“tripod”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

From Homer on it is the ordinary word for “three” (Iliad 15.187).^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Three was a sacred and lucky number from early times, above all for the Pythagoreans, as Aristotle reports.^[2][8] Pindar's “three words” (Nemean 7.48) was proverbial for a brief speech, and Euripides' διὰ τριῶν, “by three”, meant thrice over, utterly (Orestes 434).^[2] Simplicius calls the trivium “the course through three”, and a papyrus of the 3rd century AD has τρία τρία, “by threes”.^[2]

In the New Testament Paul speaks of faith, hope and love as “these three” (1 Corinthians 13:13).^[9] Coptic borrowed the neuter as ⟨ⲧⲣⲓⲁ⟩, attested about AD 600.^[10] The word continues in Modern Greek τρεις (treis), neuter τρία (tría).^[11][6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “three”.^[2][7]
• 6th century BC – An Attic inscription has the old accusative τρῖς.^[4][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar has the phrase “three words”.^[2][12]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses διὰ τριῶν, “utterly”.^[2][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle reports the Pythagorean view of three as a perfect number.^[2][12]
• 6th century AD – Simplicius uses a phrase with it for the trivium.^[2][12]
• Modern Greek – It survives as τρεις, neuter τρία.^[11][6]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Three.^[2][3][9]
2. διὰ τριῶν: thrice over, utterly.^[2]
3. τρία τρία: by threes.^[2]
4. ἡ διὰ τριῶν ἀγωγή: the trivium.^[2]

Word family

• τρίς (trís)
• τρίτος (trítos)
• τρίπους (trípous)
• τριττύς (trittús)
• τρίαινα (tríaina)
• τριάζω (triázō)
• τριάς (triás)

Related words

• Latin trēs
• English three

Usage notes

Hesychius records that an oath by three gods was prescribed in the laws of Solon.^[13]

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 j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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 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
6. ^ a b c Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b 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. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)