ἀγορά

Forms

ᾰ̓γορᾱ́ (agorā́) f (genitive ᾰ̓γορᾶς); first declension^[1] Ionic ἀγορή (agorḗ), Aeolic ⟨ἀγόρᾱ⟩.^[2][3] Mycenaean a-ko-ra, perhaps “collection”.^[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *agorā́,^[1] an action noun with the o-grade of the root of ἀγείρω (ageírō, “to gather”), Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“to gather”).^[1][6][4][7] Chantraine considers the link with the verb certain, and felt by speakers in the earliest uses.^[6] The root has no direct cognates outside Greek, though Beekes finds the reconstruction unproblematic;^[4] Babiniotis compares Latin grex (“flock”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets have Mycenaean Greek a-ko-ra, which may mean a collection.^[6][4] In Homer it is an assembly of the people, as opposed to the council of chiefs, and also its meeting place.^[2][3][9]

Semantic evolution

From the assembly the word passed to what happened there: in the Iliad its plural means public speeches, the gift of speaking.^[2][3] It named assemblies of gods and the Amphictyonic council at Pylae, but in Attic the technical term for the citizens' assembly was ἐκκλησία (ekklēsíā).^[2][6] The place of assembly became the marketplace, the social and political centre of a city, LSJ finds this sense perhaps not before a Homeric epigram, but it is common from Theognis and Pindar on.^[2][3][8] From the market came the senses “provisions”, “supplies” (in Thucydides and Xenophon), and “sale” or “purchase”, in which the link with the verb was no longer felt.^[2][6] The time when the market was full marked the forenoon.^[2] Polybius and Plutarch used it of the Roman forum, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus of the market day.^[3][2]

Many words grew from it in the two directions of speech and of trade: ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak in the assembly”) and ἀγοράζω (agorázō, “to frequent the market, buy”).^[6][7][8] The New Testament has it for the market square where children play and labourers wait for hire, and for the Agora of Athens.^[10]

The word continued through Medieval Greek,^[11] and in Modern Greek αγορά (agorá) means “purchase” and “market”; the ancient agora is a learned use.^[12] English agora is recorded from the 1590s.^[13]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The tablets have Mycenaean Greek a-ko-ra, perhaps “collection”.^[4][6][5]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the assembly of the people, its meeting place, and public speaking.^[2][3]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it for the marketplace.^[3][2]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for a market of provisions.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the Roman forum.^[3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for market squares and the Agora of Athens.^[10]
• 1590s – English borrows it as agora.^[13]
• Modern Greek – αγορά (agorá) means “purchase” and “market”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gathering or assembly of people or gods, especially for debate.^[3][2]
2. (Homer, chiefly plural) Public speaking, speech.^[3][2]
3. A place of assembly.^[3][2]
4. The agora, the public square or marketplace of a town.^[3][2]
5. A market of provisions; supplies.^[3][2]
6. Sale, purchase.^[2][6]
7. (at Rome) The forum.^[3]
8. A market day.^[2]

Word family

• ἀγοράζω (agorázō)
• ἀγοραῖος (agoraîos)
• ἀγορανόμος (agorānómos)
• ἀγοράομαι (agoráomai)
• ἀγορεύω (agoreúō)
• συνήγορος (sunḗgoros)

Related words

• ἀγείρω (ageírō)
• ἄγυρις (águris)
• πανήγυρις (panḗguris)
• ἐκκλησία (ekklēsíā)
• English agora

Usage notes

The phrase ἀγορὰ πλήθουσα, “the market being full”, marked the forenoon, in Herodotus and Xenophon.^[2]

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 q r s 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 j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
7. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com