ἀρά

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /a.rǎː/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /aˈra/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /aˈra/^[1]

Forms

ἀ̆ρᾱ́ (arā́) f (genitive ἀ̆ρᾶς); first declension^[1] Ionic and epic ἀρή (arḗ), Lesbian ἄρα.^[2][3] The Mycenaean personal name Mycenaean Greek ka-ta-wo may be Κάταρϝος, “cursed”.^[4][5]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[5][4][6] Arcadian κάταρϝος (kátarwos, “cursed”) points to a form with a lost digamma, Proto-Hellenic *arwā, which explains why the first vowel is long in epic and short in Attic.^[6][4][1][3] After the lost /w/ Attic would be expected to have a final -η; the -ᾱ may come from the verb ἀράομαι (aráomai) or from the usual plural.^[6][5][1]

Meillet grouped it with ἀρύω (arúō, “to cry”), Latin ōrō (“to speak, pray”), Hittite ariya- (“to consult an oracle”) and an Armenian verb meaning “to deny”, as words for solemn speech.^[4] Beekes doubts the Armenian comparison and leaves the Latin one open.^[5] The DGE and Wiktionary think it may be related to aruwai- (“to bow down, worship”), but Frisk rejects that link.^[3][1][6] Burkert's derivation from Akkadian arāru (“to curse”) is rejected by Rosół.^[7]

Ancient writers derived it from αἴρω (aírō, “to raise”), because people who pray raise their hands.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is a prayer to the gods, which Zeus hears; once it is the curses a mother calls down from the gods on her son.^[2][3][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “prayer” continues in Hesiod, Pindar and Herodotus, who uses it for the prayers of a whole people that Ariston should have a son.^[2][3] A Cypriot inscription uses it for a vow.^[2][4]

In tragedy and in Ionic and Attic prose the usual sense is “curse, imprecation”, mostly in the plural.^[4][2][10] Tragedy personifies it as Ἀρά, the Curse, a goddess of the underworld linked with destruction and revenge, Aeschylus identifies her with the Erinys.^[10][3][4] Plato speaks of the curse of the law, and inscriptions call down curses on anyone who damages or removes them.^[2][10] The compounds ἐπαρή (eparḗ) and κατάρα (katára) also mean “curse”.^[4]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it means only “curse”: the Epistle to the Romans quotes a Psalm on a mouth full of cursing and bitterness.^[11] The modern Modern Greek αρά (ará), “curse”, is a learned revival of the ancient word.^[12][13]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for prayers to the gods and for a mother's curses.^[2][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of prayer in the Works and Days.^[2][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of prayer, and Aeschylus personifies the Curse.^[2][3][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for public prayers, and Sophocles uses it for curses.^[2][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of the curse of the law.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Inscriptions of Magnesia call down curses on anyone who damages them.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The Epistle to the Romans uses it for cursing.^[11]
• Modern Greek – αρά (ará), “curse”, is a learned revival of the ancient word.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prayer to a god.^[2][10][3]
2. (Cypriot) A vow.^[2][3]
3. A curse, imprecation, often in the plural; also a written curse in an inscription, and the curse laid down by a law.^[2][10]
4. (personified, Ἀρά) The Curse, a goddess of destruction and revenge, identified with the Erinys.^[10][3]

Word family

• ἀράομαι (aráomai)
• ἀρατός (arātós)
• ἀραῖος (araîos)
• ἀρητήρ (arētḗr)
• ἐπαρή (eparḗ)
• κατάρα (katára)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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 d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
8. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
9. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας