φέρω

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pʰé.rɔː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈɸe.ro/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈfe.ro/^[1]

Forms

φέρω (phérō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pʰérō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti, from *bʰer- (“to carry”), the old verb for “carry” kept in almost every Indo-European language.^[1][2][3] Mycenaean has Mycenaean Greek pe-re, “carries”.^[4][2] The athematic imperative φέρτε (phérte) of Iliad 9.171 matches Latin ferte (“carry!”) exactly.^[2]

Cognate with Latin ferō (“to carry”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (bairan, “to carry; to bear (a child)”), Old Armenian բերեմ (berem, “I carry”), Sanskrit भरति (bhárati, “carries”), Old Church Slavonic берѫ (berǫ, “I gather”) and Old English beran (“to bear”).^[2][1]

Only the present and imperfect are from this root.^[4] The future οἴσω (oísō) comes from *h₃eyt- (“to fetch”), and the aorist ἤνεγκα (ḗnenka) from a reduplicated aorist of *h₁neḱ- (“to take away”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets have Mycenaean Greek pe-re.^[4] Homer uses it from the first book of the Iliad (1.13) for carrying and bringing.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its senses cover carrying, bearing and enduring, carrying off as plunder, bringing, providing, producing, reaching and extending, and, in the middle and passive, moving along.^[4][2] It is extremely common with one or two prefixes (ἀναφέρω (anaphérō), διαφέρω (diaphérō), εἰσφέρω (eisphérō)...).^[4] Hesiod calls the snail φερέοικος (pheréoikos), “house-carrier”, and the /o/-grade nouns φόρος (phóros) “tribute” and the compounds in -φόρος (-phóros) “-bearing” belong to it.^[4]

In Modern Greek the everyday verb is φέρνω;^[1] φέρω is learned, with some senses taken from French porter and English be reported.^[1][7]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – Linear B has pe-re.^[4]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for carrying and bringing.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod calls the snail “house-carrier”.^[4][8]
• 5th century BC – A Locrian inscription has the form φάρω.^[6]
• Modern Greek – φέρνω is the everyday verb.^[1]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry, bear, bring.^[4][1]
2. To bear, endure.^[4]
3. To carry off (as plunder).^[4]
4. To bring, provide, produce.^[4]
5. To reach, extend.^[4]
6. (middle and passive) To move along, be carried.^[4]

Related words

• Latin ferō
• English bear

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge