ὕστερος

Forms

ῠ̔́στερος (hústeros) m (feminine ῠ̔στέρᾱ, neuter ῠ̔́στερον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *údteros (“higher, outer”),^[1][2] a comparative formed from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“up, out, away”) with the suffix -τερος (-teros).^[2][1][3] It is identical with Sanskrit उत्तर (úttara-, “upper, higher; behind, later”), which shows the same move from “higher” to “later”.^[2][4][5] Wiktionary also connects the English words outer and utter.^[1]

The superlative ὕστατος (hústatos) is a Greek new formation on the model of δέκατος (dékatos) and ἔσχατος (éskhatos), whereas Sanskrit has उत्तम (uttamá-, “highest”).^[4][5] Chantraine and Frisk list no positive degree, and LSJ notes that Greek never had one in use.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it already means “later” in time and “next” in a sequence: one warrior attacks after another, a man arrives too late, a younger man is “later by birth”.^[7][5][8] The neuter ὕστερον (hústeron) is used as an adverb, “afterwards”, from the first book of the Iliad.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

In Attic prose and tragedy it is used of place as well as time: troops in the rear, a foot that lags behind, the second of two clauses.^[5][8] From “coming after” came “too late” (with a genitive, too late for a battle) and “inferior, second” (“second to none”, in Sophocles and Thucydides).^[5][8] The feminine ὑστεραία (husteraíā), with “day” understood, was the usual Ionic and Attic word for “the next day”, and the verb ὑστερέω (husteréō) meant “to come too late, to fall short, to lack”.^[6][4]

In the New Testament the adverb ὕστερον (hústeron) means “later, afterwards” and “finally, last of all”, and 1 Timothy speaks of “later times”.^[10] The verb and its nouns ὑστέρημα (hustérēma) and ὑστέρησις (hustérēsis) took the sense of lack and poverty.^[11][6]

Modern Greek ύστερος (ýsteros) is a learned revival of the ancient word.^[12][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for “later, next” and for a younger man.^[7][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the phrase “in later time”, and Thucydides “second to none”.^[5][8][13]
• 5th century BC – Euripides calls posterity “the later ones”.^[5][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls the younger Dionysius “the later”.^[5][13]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses the adverb for “later” and “last of all”.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The word is used again as a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Later in place: behind, in the rear; with a genitive, behind someone.^[5][8]
2. Next in a sequence; of two, the latter, the second.^[5][8]
3. Later in time, subsequent; with a genitive, later than.^[5][8]
4. Arriving too late; with a genitive, too late for something.^[5][8]
5. Later in birth, younger.^[5][8]
6. Inferior, second in worth or rank; with a genitive, second to.^[5][8]
7. (substantive, plural) Later generations, posterity.^[5][8]

Word family

• ὑστέρα (hustérā)
• ὑστεραία (husteraíā)
• ὑστερέω (husteréō)
• ὑστέρημα (hustérēma)
• ὑστερίζω (husterízō)
• ὕστερον (hústeron)
• ὕστατος (hústatos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge