χωρέω

Forms

χωρέω (khōréō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek χῶρος (khôros, “place, space”) + -έω (-éō), first meaning “to make room”.^[1][2][3] Beekes lists it among the derivatives of Ancient Greek χώρα (khṓrā, “space, land”).^[4]

The further origin of both nouns is unclear.^[4] Their ⟨ρ⟩ formation has been compared with nouns of place such as ἀγρός (agrós) and ἕδρα (hédra), but there is no match outside Greek; if the first sense was “empty space”, they may be connected with χήρα (khḗrā, “widow”) and a root Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave behind”), an analysis Beekes calls uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is used of warriors who give ground and withdraw, and with a dative for giving way to someone; the plain verb is missing from the Odyssey.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter the earth “gave way”, that is, opened.^[5][6] After Homer the verb came to mean simply to go, proceed or advance (Pindar, Aeschylus, Herodotus), and the imperative was a curt “begone!” in tragedy.^[5][6] From movement it passed to progress: a matter “goes forward”, succeeds or turns out well or badly, a rumour spreads, interest mounts up, money is spent, and in Hippocratic medicine excretions pass.^[5][6] Plato quotes Heraclitus' saying πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει, “everything moves and nothing stays”.^[5][7]

The original idea of room survives in the transitive sense “to have room for, hold”, used by Herodotus of a mixing bowl holding six hundred amphorae.^[5] In the Septuagint the land could not hold Abraham and Lot together, and in the New Testament the verb is used of accepting a saying (“not all can receive this word”) and of making room for someone in one's heart.^[5][7]

In medieval Greek a remade form of the verb kept the sense “to have room, contain”.^[3] Modern Greek χωρώ (choró) means to hold or to fit, and its impersonal use, “there is room”, continues a medieval sense.^[8][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of warriors giving ground.^[2][5]
• 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Demeter uses it of the earth opening.^[5][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it for going and advancing.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for vessels that hold a measure and for rumours that spread.^[5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato quotes Heraclitus' saying that everything moves.^[5][7]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Matthew uses it for accepting a saying.^[5][7]
• Modern times – Modern Greek χωρώ (choró) means to hold or to fit.^[8][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make room, give way, withdraw; with a dative, to give way before someone.^[5][6][2]
2. Of the earth: to give way, open up.^[5][6]
3. To go, come, proceed, advance; imperative, “begone!”.^[5][6][7]
4. To be in motion or flux.^[5][6]
5. To make progress; to turn out well or badly; to succeed.^[5][6]
6. Of a report or a cry: to spread abroad.^[5][6]
7. (medicine) Of excretions: to pass.^[5]
8. Of money: to be spent; of interest: to mount up.^[5][6]
9. (transitive) To have room for, hold, contain.^[5][7]
10. (New Testament) To accept or grasp a saying; to make room for someone in one's heart.^[5][7]
11. (impersonal) There is room.^[5]

Word family

• ἀναχωρέω (anakhōréō)
• ἀποχωρέω (apokhōréō)
• προσχωρέω (proskhōréō)
• προχωρέω (prokhōréō)
• συγχωρέω (sunkhōréō)
• ὑποχωρέω (hupokhōréō)

Related words

• χώρα (khṓrā)
• χῶρος (khôros)
• χωρίον (khōríon)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
3. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux