Etymologically
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ὀρέγω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /o.ré.ɡɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /oˈre.ɣo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /oˈre.ɣo/[1]

Forms

ὀρέγω (orégō) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to stretch, straighten, direct”), a thematic root present.[2][3] It agrees with Latin regō (“to direct, govern”) and Old Irish rigim (“I stretch out”), and the aorist ὀρέξαι (oréxai) and the adjective ὀρεκτός (orektós) match the Latin perfect and participle, rēxī and rēctus, whose long vowel is due to Lachmann's law.[2] Beekes adds Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (raihts, “straight, right”) and Avestan rāšta (“straight, arranged”);[2][1] Chantraine considers the Greek aorist and adjective parallel but independent of the Latin forms.[4]

The initial o- is peculiar to Greek: Frisk took it for a prefix, Schwyzer and Lejeune for a prothetic vowel, which a laryngeal explanation turns into the reflex of the initial *h₃.[4][2] LIV takes the Homeric participle ὀρεγνύς (oregnús) as a nasal-infix present;[3] Beekes finds its connection with an Avestan adjective uncertain.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to stretch out the hands, in prayer to the sky or in pleading, and to hold out or hand something to someone: the Odyssey has a cup and bread handed over (15.312), and the Iliad Zeus granting glory to whichever side he chooses (5.33).[5][6] The middle means to stretch oneself, to reach out for: someone reaches out to his child (Iliad 6.466), and a warrior strikes first at an enemy's shoulder.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine stresses that the verb means stretching out in a straight line, with a sense of direction, unlike πετάννυμι (petánnumi, “to spread out”).[4] The middle with a genitive moved from physically reaching for a thing to longing for it: Euripides uses it for longing for marriage or for the greatest things, and it is frequent in Attic prose from Antiphon and Thucydides on.[5][5][7] From this use came ὄρεξις (órexis, “desire, appetite”) in Democritus and Aristotle, and Aristotle's ὀρεκτικός (orektikós).[2] In the New Testament only the middle occurs, and only in the figurative sense, “to aspire to, strive for”.[8]

Modern Greek has ορέγομαι (orégome, “to long for, covet”) as a learned word from the ancient middle,[9][10] and όρεξη (óreksi, “appetite”) from ὄρεξις.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for stretching out the hands and handing over a gift; the middle for reaching out.[6][5]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod has the middle of reaching out in the Theogony.[11][12]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides and Thucydides use the middle for longing for something.[5][12]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of a juror holding up his token.[6][12]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses only the middle, for aspiring to or striving for something.[8]
  • Modern Greek – The learned ορέγομαι means “to covet”.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stretch out, hold up the hands, in prayer, greeting or pleading.[6][5]
  2. To hold out, hand over a cup, a weapon, food or drink.[6][5]
  3. (of a god) To grant victory, glory or prosperity.[6][5]
  4. To hold up a token to view, of a juror.[6]
  5. (middle) To stretch oneself out, stretch out one's hand; to stride out.[5][7]
  6. (middle, with genitive) To reach for, grasp at; in a hostile sense, to aim a blow at.[5]
  7. (middle, figurative) To yearn for, desire, aspire to.[5][8]

Word family

  • ἐπορέγω (eporégō)
  • ἀντορέγω (antorégō)
  • ἀπορέγω (aporégō)
  • κακορέκτης (kakoréktēs)
  • παρορέγω (parorégō)
  • προσορέγω (prosorégō)
  • συνορέγομαι (sunorégomai)
  • ὑπερορέγομαι (huperorégomai)
  • ὄργυια (órguia)
  • ὄρεγμα (óregma)
  • ὀρεκτικός (orektikós)
  • ὀρεκτός (orektós)
  • ὄρεξις (órexis)
  • ὀρεχθέω (orekhthéō)
  • Latin regō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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
  3. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  4. ^ a b c 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 e f g h i j k l 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c 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
  9. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge