ὁ

Forms

ὁ (ho) (feminine ἡ, neuter τό)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hó, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *só (“this one”), an old demonstrative whose masculine and feminine nominative began with s- and whose other forms began with t- (neuter τό (tó), from *tód).^[2][1][3] The nominative plurals οἱ (hoi), αἱ (hai) of epic and Attic are analogical for the older τοί (toí), ταί (taí) of epic and Doric.^[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit स (sá), feminine सा (sā́), Gothic 𐍃𐌰 (sa), Tocharian B se, Old English sē and Old Church Slavonic тъ (tŭ), and the Old Latin form sapsa (“herself”).^[2][1] The relative ὅς (hós) has a different origin.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is mostly a demonstrative and personal pronoun, “that, he, she, it”, the oldest and, there, the commonest use; it already appears as an article as well.^[3][5][4]

Semantic evolution

As a demonstrative it lived on in Herodotus, in the lyric parts of tragedy and in set phrases of Attic prose, such as ὁ μέν … ὁ δέ “the one … the other”.^[3][4] In Attic it became the definite article, placed before the noun, used to mark a known or representative person or thing and to make a noun of an adjective, a participle or an infinitive.^[3][4] In epic and Ionic the same forms also served as a relative pronoun.^[3][4]

The New Testament uses it as the definite article.^[6] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the article, and Modern Greek ο (o), η, το continues it.^[7][8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it mainly as a pronoun, “he, she, it”.^[3][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus still often uses it as a demonstrative.^[3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Attic prose uses it as the definite article, keeping the demonstrative in set phrases.^[3][4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it as the article.^[6]
• Modern Greek – ο (o) is still the definite article.^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (demonstrative, mainly Homeric) This, that; he, she, it.^[3][4][5]
2. ὁ μέν … ὁ δέ: the one … the other; some … others.^[4][5]
3. (epic, Ionic) Used as a relative pronoun: who, which.^[3][4]

Article

1. The definite article: the.^[3][4][6]
2. With an adjective, participle or infinitive, making it a noun.^[4]
3. With a genitive or a prepositional phrase, a person or thing associated with it: the son of, the men with.^[4]

Word family

• ὅδε (hóde)

Usage notes

The nominatives ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ are written without an accent except when used as relatives, and Herodian says they were oxytone, Apollonius Dyscolus that they were not enclitic.^[3] Dialect forms include Doric ἁ (ha) for ἡ and epic τοῖο (toîo) for the genitive τοῦ.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας