Ancient Greek words first recorded in the 8th century BC

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out”). The aorist stem ⟨πετα-⟩, the old nasal present πίτνημι (pítnēmi) and the perfect stem ⟨πεπτα-⟩ all point to a root…

The origin is unknown. Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, since no explanation works, and notes its suffix -ρ- among the Pre-Greek suffixes. Chantraine finds none of the proposals listed by Frisk…

Wiktionary and Beekes's Pre-Greek lexicon consider it and πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) Pre-Greek, noting the suffix -ρ-. Wackernagel took the feminine to be an old collective beside πέτρος, as Chantraine…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *péu̯k̑-ah₂-, a formation that the NIL lists under the root noun *pewḱ- (“conifer, pine”). Beekes and Chantraine take it as an adjective made a noun, *πευκός…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pēd-o- (“sole, footstep”), a thematic form with lengthened grade from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”), the root of πούς (poús). The oar blade was named…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pā́kʰus, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵʰús (“arm, forearm”), the inherited Indo-European name of the arm. The first aspirate was lost by Grassmann's…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pəlnamai, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥-né-h₂-ti (“approaches”), a present with a nasal infix from the root *pelh₂- (“to approach”). Frisk compares its…

It is a poetic form of πετάννυμι (petánnumi, “to spread out”). LIV takes it as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pt-né-h₂-, a nasal-infix present of *peth₂- (“to spread out”), the same formation…

Its origin is uncertain. Beekes suggests, with hesitation, a thematized nasal present Proto-Indo-European *pl-néh₂-ti of the root *pleh₂- (“broad, flat”), the root of Latin plānus (“flat”), but he…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pleíhōn, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-is-on-, the comparative of the root Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill, be full”). The superlative πλεῖστος…

It is probably formed from Ancient Greek πλήθω (plḗthō, “to be full”) + -ος (-os). The verb belongs with πίμπλημι (pímplēmi, “to fill”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”). Beekes counts…

It belongs to the family of πίμπλημι (pímplēmi, “to fill”), πλήθω (plḗthō, “to be full”) and πλῆθος (plêthos, “mass, crowd”), whose root is from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”). Beekes takes…

It is formed from Ancient Greek πλέω (pléō, “to sail, float”) + -τος (-tos), from the root of “to sail, float” in an older sense “to flow”: *plou-to- was first a “flow, abundance”. The suffix is the…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pluňňō, a nasal present built on the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *plew-. Like κρίνω (krī́nō) from *κρίνι̯ω (*kríniō), it comes from *πλύνι̯ω (*plúniō)…

It is from Ancient Greek πλεύμων (pleúmōn, “lung”), the older and originally Attic form, reshaped after πνέω (pnéō, “to breathe, blow”) and πνεῦμα (pneûma, “breath”). The manuscripts mostly have the…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰodʰ-éye-, an iterative of *gʷʰedʰ- (“to long for, ask”), and corresponds exactly to Old Irish guidid (“to pray”). Within Greek it goes with the noun…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂ (“payment; punishment, vengeance”). Frisk and Chantraine find it identical in form and meaning with Avestan…

It is from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who?”), the interrogative stem, with the suffix seen in τοῖος (toîos) and οἷος (hoîos). The Ionic form is κοῖος (koîos).

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *poľľós, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pol-yós, from the root *pelH- (“pale, grey”). Beekes prefers *pol-io- to the older *πολιϝός (*poliwós), which rested…

It is from Ancient Greek πέμπω (pémpō, “to send, escort”), an action noun with the ⟨o⟩ grade of the verb's root, as in the perfect πέπομφα (pépompha). The verb itself has no Indo-European etymology…

It is the o-grade noun from Ancient Greek πένομαι (pénomai, “to toil, exert oneself”), beside which stand the iterative πονέω (ponéō) and the adjective πονηρός (ponērós). Beekes and Frisk regard the…

Its formation is like that of οὐλαμός (oulamós) and πλόκαμος (plókamos), but its root is uncertain. It was long connected with πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”), aorist ἔπετον (épeton), as a "waterfall" or…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʷóteros, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷóteros (“which of two”), formed from the interrogative stem *kʷos (“which”) and the contrastive suffix *-teros…

It is formed from Ancient Greek πράσσω (prā́ssō, “to do, to practise”) + -σις (-sis), the suffix of action nouns. The stem of the verb, seen in πρᾶγμα (prâgma), ends in /g/, which turns into /k/…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *prā́ťťō, from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₂-k-yé-ti, a form enlarged with *-k- from *per- (“to go over, cross”). Frisk and Chantraine trace all its forms to a stem…

It is the comparative from Ancient Greek πρέσβυς (présbus, “old man, elder”) + -τερος (-teros). Beekes analyses the word as a compound whose first part is a frozen adverb πρές (prés, “in front”)…

It is formed like ἀπηνής (apēnḗs) and προσηνής (prosēnḗs), from Ancient Greek πρό (pró) + *ἦνος (*ênos, “face”), the second element being a noun usually assumed for these words, so that the word…

Beekes takes it as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *prei (“earlier, before”), perhaps through an old locative *pr-i, with the same final ⟨ν⟩ as νῦν (nûn) and πάλιν (pálin). It clearly belongs…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pró, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“forward, before”), an adverb and preverb kept in almost every Indo-European language, mostly in compounds. Beside…

It is formed from Ancient Greek πρό (pró, “before, forward”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”). The nouns προβολή (probolḗ) and πρόβλημα (próblēma) are made from other ablaut grades of the stem of the verb.

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *próti (“against, towards”). The epic form προτί (protí) is the same word as Sanskrit प्रति (práti, “towards, against”), except that Brugmann's Law, which…

It is formed from Ancient Greek προσ- (pros-, “to, towards”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”). The simple verb continues the reduplicated present Proto-Indo-European *dʰí-dʰeh₁-mi of the root…

In Beekes's and Frisk's view it is from Ancient Greek πρό (pró, “before, forward”) with a suffix *-ti̯o-, a frozen instrumental formed like ὀπίσω (opísō), or perhaps a thematic extension of πρότι…

It is an imitative word, probably related to Latin sternuō (“to sneeze”) and Old Irish sreod (“sneezing”). LIV and Pokorny set up a root Proto-Indo-European *pster- (“to sneeze”), but Beekes, Frisk…

It is an inherited verb for spitting, which Beekes takes, with a heavy initial cluster, as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tspi(e)uH- (“to spew, spit”); the LIV reconstructs Proto-Indo-European…

It is from Ancient Greek πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist; cubit”) with the suffix -αῖος (-aîos), and so means “a πυγμή (pugmḗ) tall”: that was a measure of length, from the elbow to the knuckles, eighteen…

It is formed from Ancient Greek πύξ (púx, “with the fist”) + -μή (-mḗ), with the suffix of στιγμή (stigmḗ), δραχμή (drakhmḗ) and ἀκμή (akmḗ). Beekes notes that the stem may be either verbal or…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to wake up, become attentive”), with a nasal-infix present (*bʰu-né-dʰ-), perhaps like that of Lithuanian bundù (“to wake up”). The full-grade…

It is from Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr, “fire”). The feminine, Epic and Ionic πυρή (purḗ), means “fireplace, pyre”; beside it stands a neuter plural meaning “watch-fires”, which Beekes explains as the…

It is a frozen ablative from Ancient Greek πο- (po-), the pronominal stem, Ionic κο- (ko-), with the adverb ending -ως (-ōs), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, which”). The same stem is in πόθεν…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wréǵ-ye-, a present in *-ye- from a form of Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to work”) with the liquid moved, the root of ἔργον (érgon) and ἔρδω (érdō). Beekes…

The origin is unknown. It has been connected with ῥάπτω (rháptō, “to sew”) and ῥαπίζω (rhapízō) through a supposed common meaning “to twist, bend”, sought in ῥόπαλον (rhópalon) and ῥόπτρον…

It is usually explained as inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tseřřā́, from Proto-Indo-European *twer- (“to grasp, enclose”), as “the thing that seizes”, with the basic form *twer-yā; the cognate is…

It is formed from Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma, “sign, mark”) + -αίνω (-aínō). The noun has no good etymology: Brugmann compared a Sanskrit word for “thought”, which Beekes finds semantically…

It goes back to *κιάμερον (kiámeron), a univerbation from Ancient Greek κι- (ki-, “this, here”) + ἡμέρα (hēmérā, “day”), perhaps through an adjective meaning “belonging to this day”. The first part…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *skaiwós, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *skeh₂iwos. Beekes, Frisk and Chantraine all note that it matches Latin scaevus (“left, inauspicious”) in form and…

Probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to dry out, wither”). The active is rare; the usual forms are the intransitive σκέλλομαι (skéllomai) “to dry up”, the perfect ἔσκληκα…

It is formed from Ancient Greek σκήπτομαι (skḗptomai, “to lean on”) + -τρον (-tron, “instrument suffix”), “something to lean on”, like βάκτρον (báktron) “staff”. The ancient lexica already derived…

It is probably a denominative verb from Ancient Greek σκᾶπος (skâpos, “branch, stick”), since every word of the family has a long ā in the root (Attic-Ionic η); the verb, its aorist and the noun…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of the variant σκόλοφρον (skólophron, “bench”) with ⟨φ⟩ beside ⟨π⟩ and the suffixes -οπ- and -ρ-. It is often derived from σκάλλω (skállō, “to stir, hoe”), but…

Its origin is uncertain. The usual view connects it with σκοπός (skopós, “watcher”) and σκοπιά (skopiā́, “lookout”), from the root of σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at”), so that its first meaning…

The origin is uncertain, and several etymologies have been proposed for this expressive word. It belongs to the many words for young animals in ⟨-αξ⟩, such as μεῖραξ (meîrax), δέλφαξ (délphax) and…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *twós (“your”), the possessive formed from the stem of the pronoun of the second person, σύ (sú). Beekes derives it from *τϝός (*twós), and the Doric, Aeolic…

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peh₂- (“to draw, set in motion violently”). García-Ramón reconstructs this root from the Greek verb, Hittite pippa- (“to overturn”) and a Vedic…

Beekes considers it, beyond doubt, Pre-Greek, following Furnée. It is apparently related to σπήλαιον (spḗlaion, “cave”).

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *spewd- (“to press, drive, hurry”). The only certain cognate, according to Beekes, is Lithuanian spáusti (“to press, squeeze; push on; hurry”), and the noun…

Beekes considers it probably Pre-Greek. Its suffix is that of ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”) and αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “ether”), and the related forms σπίνθραξ (spínthrax) and σπινθαρίδες (spintharídes) are built…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, following Furnée, who connects ἄσβολος (ásbolos, “soot”) and a *σπολός (*spolós) behind σπολεύς (spoleús). The group would show a prothetic vowel and an alternation of…

It is from Ancient Greek σπένδω (spéndō, “to pour a libation”), with the o-grade of the root and the suffix -η (-ē). The verb is from Proto-Indo-European *spend- (“to libate”), a word of the…

The present reflects *στάγ-yω (*stág-yō), and it forms the basis of the other forms, as in σταγών (stagṓn, “drop”), which stands beside it as τρυγών (trugṓn) does beside τρύζω (trúzō). The rare…