ἀπό

Forms

ᾰ̓πό (apó) (governs the genitive)^[1] Elided ἀπ’ before a vowel, ἀφ’ before a rough breathing; after its noun it is accented ἄπο (anastrophe).^[1][2] Aeolic, Arcadian and Cypriot ἀπύ, as in Mycenaean; epic ἀπαί in Empedocles.^[2][3][4] Mycenaean a-pu, in the verb forms Mycenaean Greek a-pu-do-ke and Mycenaean Greek a-pe-do-ke.^[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *apó,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“off, away”), an old adverb and preverb.^[4][1] Cognate with Sanskrit अप (ápa, “away, off”), Latin ab, Proto-Germanic *ab (whence English of) and Albanian pa (“without”).^[1][4] Beekes notes that a variant accented *h₂pó-, seen in Proto-Slavic *po, would also have given ἀπό, and doubts the comparison with Hittite appa (“after”).^[4]

The genitive it governs continues the Indo-European ablative of separation.^[1] The CGL relates it to ἄψ (áps, “back”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found on the Mycenaean tablets as a-pu, chiefly as a verbal prefix.^[3][4] In the Iliad it is both an adverb, “far away”, and a preposition with the genitive meaning “away from”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Its core sense is separation, “away from, apart from”, unlike ἐκ (ek) “out of”.^[3] From space it passed to time (“since, after”), which is Ionic and Attic and only once in Homer, and to origin, material and cause: descent from a parent, things made from grapes or honey, living “from” the land, acting “because of” something.^[3][2] Unlike Latin ab, it was not the usual way of naming the agent of a passive verb.^[3] The Arcadian and Cypriot dialects construed it with the dative.^[3]

In compounds it marks removal (ἀποβάλλω (apobállō)), giving back what is due (ἀποδίδωμι (apodídōmi) “to pay back”), completion (ἀπεργάζομαι (apergázomai) “to finish off”) and even negation (ἀπαγορεύω (apagoreúō) “to forbid”).^[3]

It survives in Modern Greek as από (apó), now with the accusative, and often shortened to απ’.^[3][5] English apo- comes from it.^[6]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The Linear B tablets have the prefix a-pu.^[3][4]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it as an adverb and as a preposition “away from”.^[4][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for what something is made from and for the means by which something is done.^[2][7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch calls the followers of Plato οἱ ἀπὸ Πλάτωνος.^[2][7]
• Modern Greek – It is the everyday preposition από (apó), construed with the accusative.^[5][3]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with the genitive) Away from, from a person, place or thing; apart from; at a distance from (a hope or standard).^[2][8]
2. (with the genitive) From, out of a larger number or group.^[2]
3. (with the genitive) At, on a place from which an action starts: men fighting from the decks of ships.^[2]
4. (with the genitive) Since, after a point in time.^[2][3]
5. (with the genitive) Descended from; coming from a country; made from a material; living on or from.^[2]
6. (with the genitive) By means of; because of.^[2]
7. (adverb) Far away, off.^[4]

Word family

• ἄπωθεν (ápōthen)
• ἀποβαίνω (apobaínō)
• ἀποδίδωμι (apodídōmi)
• ἀπόδειξις (apódeixis)
• ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnēískō)
• ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis)
• ἀποκτείνω (apokteínō)
• ἀπολείπω (apoleípō)
• ἀπόλλυμι (apóllūmi)
• ἀπολογία (apologíā)
• ἀποστέλλω (apostéllō)
• ἀπόστολος (apóstolos)
• ἀποφαίνω (apophaínō)
• ἀποχωρέω (apokhōréō)

Related words

• ἄπιος (ápios)
• ἄψ (áps)
• Latin ab
• English apo-

Usage notes

Set phrases include ἀπὸ στόματος “off the cuff, by heart” and ἀπὸ τῆς ἴσης “on equal terms”.^[2] Placed after its noun it is accented ἄπο, as in νεῶν ἄπο “from the ships” in the Iliad.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press