πρύτανις

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• πρότανις (prótanis) — Aeolic
• βρύτανις (brútanis) — Phocian, Cretan

Etymology

In view of the close resemblance to Etruscan 𐌐𐌖𐌓𐌈𐌍𐌄 (purθne, “title of an official”), this word probably belongs to the Anatolian-Aegean stratum of social designations (compare ἄναξ (ánax), βασιλεύς (basileús) and τύραννος (túrannos)); attested with a Hittite suffix -uri (meaning “great, grand” in titles like in grand vizier) in an Ugaritic text as [Cuneiform needed] (ḫupurtanuri), likely passed as *οπορτανις (*oportanis) / *οπυρτανις (*opurtanis) and clipped with the first syllable interpreted as the Greek article and then modified by secondary association with πρό (pró, “before”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /prý.ta.nis/ → /ˈpry.ta.nis/ → /ˈpri.ta.nis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /prý.ta.nis/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpry.ta.nis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpry.ta.nis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpry.ta.nis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpri.ta.nis/

Noun

πρῠ́τᾰνῐς • (prútanis) m (genitive πρῠτᾰ́νεως); third declension

1. prince, ruler, lord, chief
2. (at Athens) member of the tribe presiding in boule
3. prytanis, title of a chief magistrate

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ πρῠ́τᾰνῐς; τοῦ πρῠτᾰ́νεως (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ πρῠ́τᾰνῐς ho prútanis	τὼ πρῠτᾰ́νει tṑ prutánei	οἱ πρῠτᾰ́νεις hoi prutáneis
Genitive	τοῦ πρῠτᾰ́νεως toû prutáneōs	τοῖν πρῠτᾰνέοιν toîn prutanéoin	τῶν πρῠτᾰ́νεων tôn prutáneōn
Dative	τῷ πρῠτᾰ́νει tôi prutánei	τοῖν πρῠτᾰνέοιν toîn prutanéoin	τοῖς πρῠτᾰ́νεσῐ / πρῠτᾰ́νεσῐν toîs prutánesi(n)
Accusative	τὸν πρῠ́τᾰνῐν tòn prútanin	τὼ πρῠτᾰ́νει tṑ prutánei	τοὺς πρῠτᾰ́νεις toùs prutáneis
Vocative	πρῠ́τᾰνῐ prútani	πρῠτᾰ́νει prutánei	πρῠτᾰ́νεις prutáneis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἀρχῐπρῠ́τᾰνῐς (arkhiprútanis)
• πρυτανάρχης (prutanárkhēs)
• πρυτανεία (prutaneía)
• πρυτανεῖον (prutaneîon)
• πρυτάνειος (prutáneios)
• πρυτάνευμα (prutáneuma)
• πρυτανεύς (prutaneús)
• πρυτανεύω (prutaneúō)
• πρυτανικός (prutanikós)
• πρυτανῖτις (prutanîtis)

 

Descendants

• → English: prytanis

Further reading

• “πρύτανις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πρύτανις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πρύτανις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• Szemerényi, Oswald (1974) “The origins of the Greek lexicon: Ex Oriente Lux”, in The Journal of Hellenic Studies‎^[1], volume 94, →DOI, page 154 with more references