ὅπως

Forms

ὅπως (hópōs) ^[1] Epic and Aeolic ὅππως (hóppōs), Ionic ὅκως (hókōs).^[2][3]

Etymology

From the stem of the relative pronoun ὅς (hós, “who, which”) and the indefinite adverb πως (pōs, “somehow”), the unaccented form of πῶς (pôs, “how?”).^[1][2][4] The stem ὁ- of the relative goes back to Proto-Indo-European *yos.^[4] The interrogative is a frozen case form (an ablative) of the stem πο- (po-), Ionic κο- (ko-), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-,^[5][6][4] and Ionic ὅκως (hókōs) has the κ of that dialect, as in κῶς (kôs).^[5][6][4] LSJ treats it as the correlative of ὡς (hōs) and of the interrogative.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it as an adverb of manner, “as, in the way that” and “how” in indirect questions, and after verbs of taking care or considering, as in the Odyssey's “let us consider how” (φραζώμεθ’ ὅπως).^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Attic ὅπως became above all a conjunction: “in order that” with the subjunctive or optative, “that” after verbs of taking care (with the future indicative) and of fearing, and in brusque commands with the main verb left out (“see that you…”).^[3][2] Set phrases were οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως, “there is no way that”, and οὐχ ὅπως … ἀλλά, “not only not … but”.^[2][3] The tragedians use it like ὡς in comparisons (“like a wave”, Aeschylus) and with superlatives (“as well as possible”).^[3][2] One of the lexica in the Lexica Segueriana collects examples of ὅπως with the future indicative from Demosthenes.^[8]

In the New Testament it is mostly a purpose conjunction, “so that”, and sometimes “how”.^[9] Medieval Greek kept the word,^[10] and Modern Greek όπως (ópos) continues its manner sense, “as, like”.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “as”, “how” and after verbs of considering.^[2][7][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus writes Ionic ὅκως, and Thucydides uses οὐχ ὅπως … ἀλλά.^[2][3][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it after verbs of fearing, and Xenophon in commands with the main verb left out.^[2][3][13]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it mainly for purpose.^[9]
• Modern Greek – όπως (ópos) means “as, like”.^[11]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (relative) as, in the way that; with ἄν and the subjunctive, in whatever way.^[3][2]
2. (in comparisons, tragedy) like.^[3][2]
3. (with a superlative) As … as possible: ὅπως ἄριστα, as well as can be.^[3][2]
4. (temporal) when; whenever.^[2]
5. (in indirect questions) how, in what way.^[3][2]
6. οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως: there is no way that, it is impossible that.^[3][2]

Conjunction

1. (final) So that, in order that, with the subjunctive or optative.^[3][9]
2. (after verbs of taking care, trying, planning) That, how, usually with the future indicative.^[3][2]
3. (after verbs of fearing) That … not, with μή.^[2]
4. (elliptical, in warnings and commands) See that, be sure that.^[2][3]
5. (after verbs of saying) That.^[2]
6. οὐχ ὅπως … ἀλλά: not only not … but; so far from … that.^[2][3]

Related words

• ὅς (hós)
• πῶς (pôs)
• ὡς (hōs)
• ὅπου (hópou)
• ὅποι (hópoi)

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 t 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 l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
13. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge