ὀπίσω

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ὀπίσσω (opíssō) — Ionic

Etymology

The usual explanation is to regard the base *ὀπί- (*opí-) < Proto-Hellenic *opí, *opi- < Proto-Indo-European *opí, as an ablaut variant of ἐπί (epí), ἐπι- (epi-) (from Proto-Indo-European *epí). Compare Mycenaean Greek 𐀃𐀠 (o-pi, “on”), Luwian [Term?] (/⁠appi⁠/, “back”), Latin op- (“upon”) (in for example operio (“to cover”)), Lithuanian api- (“about”).

Dunkel instead derives ὀπίσσω (opíssō) < Proto-Hellenic *opissō < Proto-Indo-European *op-ityo-o (“back, later”, adverb), from Proto-Indo-European *op-ityo- (“hindmost, rear”, adjective). Compare Hittite [script needed] (appezziya, “later”, adverb) and [script needed] (appezziya-, “hindmost, rear”, adjective). The base is thus Proto-Indo-European *óp, an ablaut variant of *áp (“away, back, after”, adverb), compare Latin ab (“away, from”), which fits much better semantically.

For the suffix compare πρόσσω (próssō), περισσός (perissós), εἴσω (eísō), and μέτασσαι (métassai, “those born later”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /o.pí.sɔː/ → /oˈpi.so/ → /oˈpi.so/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /o.pí.sɔː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /oˈpi.so/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /oˈpi.so/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /oˈpi.so/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /oˈpi.so/

Adverb

ὀπίσω • (opísō)

1. (of place) backwards
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 12.272
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.218
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.443
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.710
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.149
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.207
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 528A
   • 500 BCE – 400 BCE, Bacchylides, Collected Works 12.53
   • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, Joel 2.20
2. back, back again, by the same way one took
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.326
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 3.62
   • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Theocritus, Collected Works 25.74
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.62
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.120
3. again
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.14
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.92
   • 407 BCE, Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 38
4. (of time) hereafter
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.160
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 741
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 488
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 20.199
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1104
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.352
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.483
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.343
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.109
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 18.250
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 24.452
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1000A.30
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 488
5. following, yet to come
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.75

Derived terms

• ἐξοπίσω (exopísō)
• ὄπισθεν (ópisthen)
• ὀπισθόδομος (opisthódomos)
• ὀπίστατος (opístatos)

 

Related terms

• κατόπιν (katópin)
• ὀψέ (opsé)

 

Descendants

• Greek: πίσω (píso)

Preposition

ὀπίσω • (opísō) (governs the genitive)

1. after
   • 70 CE – 110 CE, The Gospel of Matthew 4:19

Further reading

• “ὀπίσω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὀπίσω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ὀπίσω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ὀπίσω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ὀπίσω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ὀπίσω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3694 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • back idem, page 57.
  • behind idem, page 71.