πρέσβυς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Originally "one who leads cattle," from Proto-Indo-European *pres (“before”), extended form of *pre + *gʷōus (“cattle”). Cognates include Old Irish arsid, Sanskrit 'para', 'puráḥ', 'puraḥ-sthita-', 'purōgavá', and Old English fyrst (English first).

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /prézbys/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /prɛ́zbys/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /prézβys/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /prézvys/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan): IPA: /pɾézvis/

Adjective

πρέσβυς (presbus) m

1. elderly, aged
   1. (masculine substantive) old man
      • 429 BC, Sophocles, Oedipus the King, 941
   2. (masculine substantive) elder, chief, prince
      • 458 BC, Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 184,205,530
   3. (superlative) revered, honored
2. ambassador
   • 470 BC, Aeschylus, The Suppliants, 728
3. (at Sparta) a political title, higher than γέρων (gerōn, “senator”): chief, president
   • Inscriptiones Laconiae, 1237, 1326
4. a name of the τρόχιλος (trokhilos, “wren”)
5. 4th century BC, Aristotle, History of Animals, 9.11,5
   1. a type of daw or chough
      • 4th century BC, Aristotle, History of Animals, 9.1,15

Usage notes

For the feminine, see πρέσβα (presba), πρέσβειρα (presbeira), πρεσβηίς (presbēis).

Inflection

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	πρέσβυς	πρέσβη	πρέσβεις
Genitive	πρέσβεως
Dative
Accusative		πρέσβη
Vocative	πρέσβυ

References

• Strong’s concordance number: G4245
• πρέσβυς in A Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell & Scott, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1940

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Greek

Noun

πρέσβυς (présvys) m,   plural πρέσβεις,  feminine πρέσβειρα

1. Katharevousa form of πρέσβης (présvis, "ambassador")

Related terms

see: πρέσβης (présvis)