ὥρα Ancient Greek · revision 2233

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=ine-pro *yóh₁r̥}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /hɔ̌ː.raː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈo.ra/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈo.ra/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ὥρᾱ''' (hṓrā) ''f'' (genitive ὥρᾱς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Ionic ὥρη, Aeolic ὤρα; epic genitive plural ὡράων.^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ine-pro|*yóh₁r̥|t=year, season]],^(Wiktionary) more exactly *Hyoh₁-r-h₂ with a feminine ending.^(Beekes 2010)^(Etygram) Its cognates are the words for “year”: Gothic [[m|got|𐌾𐌴𐍂|tr=jēr]], Old High German [[m|goh|jār]] and English [[m|en|year]], and Avestan yārə.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) Church Slavonic jara means “spring”, and Latin [[m|la|hornus|t=of this year]] may keep a trace of the word.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Beekes thinks the root is probably *Hyeh₁- “to send”, comparing German [[m|de|Geschick|t=fate]] from [[m|de|schicken|t=to send]].^(Beekes 2010) Frisk held that derivations from a verb “to go” had no basis.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|hōra]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Homer it is a season, mostly in the plural: “when the fourth year came and the seasons came round”.^(LSJ 1940) The season is named by a genitive or adjective, such as ὥρη εἰαρινή “spring” and ὥρη χειμερίη “winter”.^(LSJ 1940) The Seasons, Ὧραι, are the gatekeepers of Olympus in the ''Iliad'', and the ''Odyssey'' uses ὥρη for the right time, such as the time for sleep.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Homer and Hesiod distinguish three seasons, and Alcman is the first to name four.^(LSJ 1940) The plural could mean climate, and Herodotus speaks of the cycle of the seasons.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) It was the right time for an activity, such as reaping or sailing, the time of day, and the prime of life, youth and beauty, in Pindar, the tragedians and Aristophanes.^(CGL 2021) Pindar personifies Hora, the goddess of youth.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ The sense “hour”, a twelfth of the day from sunrise to sunset, appears in Polybius, the New Testament and Plutarch,^(CGL 2021)^(UBS 2023) and [[ὡρολόγιον|tr=hōrológion]] named a sundial or water clock.^(Beekes 2010) In the New Testament it is also “the hour” of an appointed event.^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023)

+

+ Modern Greek [[m|el|ώρα|tr=óra]] means an hour, a twenty-fourth of the day, and the time for something; in the Orthodox Church the Hours are services.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Πάπυρος)^(Etygram) English ''hour'' came from it through Latin ''hora'' and Old French, first for the canonical hours, around 1200.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' use it for a season and for the right time.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod names the seasons by ὥρη.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 7th century BC – Alcman names four seasons.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of the cycle of the seasons.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for an hour.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * c. 1200 – English ''hour'' is first recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|season]] of the year, and in the plural the seasons or the climate.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The right or usual time for something.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A time of day.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Hellenistic)'' An [[m|en|hour]], a twelfth of the day.^(CGL 2021)^(UBS 2023)

+ # Youth, prime, beauty.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(plural, personified)'' The Seasons, the Horae.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ἐς ὥρας, for the time to come.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ὡραῖος|tr=hōraîos]]

+ * [[ὡρολόγιον|tr=hōrológion]]

+ * [[ὡραῖος|tr=hōraîos]]

+ * [[ὡρολόγιον|tr=hōrológion]]

+ * [[ἄωρος|tr=áōros]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|hōra]]

+ * [[en|horoscope]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ionic also had a different ὥρη, a part of a sacrificial victim, and ὤρα with smooth breathing is another word, “care, concern”, related to [[ὁράω|tr=horáō]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010) Plato's ''Cratylus'' derives the seasons from [[ὁρίζω|tr=horízō|t=to divide]], because they divide winters from summers.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}