πατήρ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *patḗr (compare Mycenaean Greek 𐀞𐀳 (pa-te)), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr. Cognates include Old English fæder (English father), Phrygian πατερης (pateres), Latin pater, Sanskrit पितृ (pitṛ), and Old Armenian հայր (hayr).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pa.tɛ̌ːr/ → /paˈtir/ → /paˈtir/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pa.tɛ̌ːr/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /paˈte̝r/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /paˈtir/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /paˈtir/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /paˈtir/

Noun

πᾰτήρ • (patḗr) m (genitive πᾰτρός or πᾰτέρος); third declension

1. father

   Synonym: φύτωρ (phútōr)

   1. epithet of Zeus
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.544:

        Τὴν δ’ ἠμείβετ’ ἔπειτα πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε·

        Tḕn d’ ēmeíbet’ épeita patḕr andrôn te theôn te;

        Then the father of men and gods answered her:

   2. respectful address of an older man
   3. (figurative) author
   4. (in the plural) forefathers, ancestors

Declension

Third declension of ὁ πᾰτήρ; τοῦ πᾰτρός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ πᾰτήρ ho patḗr	τὼ πᾰτέρε tṑ patére	οἱ πᾰτέρες hoi patéres
Genitive	τοῦ πᾰτρός / πᾰτέρος toû patrós / patéros	τοῖν πᾰτέροιν toîn patéroin	τῶν πᾰτέρων / πᾰτρῶν tôn patérōn / patrôn
Dative	τῷ πᾰτρῐ́ / πᾰτέρῐ tôi patrí / patéri	τοῖν πᾰτέροιν toîn patéroin	τοῖς πᾰτρᾰ́σῐ toîs patrási
Accusative	τὸν πᾰτέρᾰ tòn patéra	τὼ πᾰτέρε tṑ patére	τοὺς πᾰτέρᾰς toùs patéras
Vocative	πάτερ páter	πᾰτέρε patére	πᾰτέρες patéres
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• Κλεοπᾶς (Kleopâs)
• Κλεοπάτρα (Kleopátra)
• Κλεόπατρος (Kleópatros)
• πᾰτρῐᾱ́ (patriā́)
• Σωσῐ́πᾰτρος (Sōsípatros)

Descendants

• Greek: πατήρ (patír), πατέρας (patéras)

Further reading

• “πᾰτήρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πατήρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πατήρ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πατήρ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πατήρ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3962 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.
  • father idem, page 309.
  • sire idem, page 779.
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press

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Greek

Etymology

Ancient Greek πᾰτήρ (patḗr)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [paˈtir]
• Hyphenation: πα‧τήρ

Noun

πατήρ • (patír) m

1. (religion) God the Father
2. (literary) father (form of address for monk or priest)
3. Katharevousa form of πατέρας (patéras), father