ποταμός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Uncertain, though most theories imply a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”) by relating the term to reflexes as such:

• πῑ́πτω (pī́ptō, “to fall”), thus a "waterfall" > "river that sweeps things away",
• πετᾰ́ννῡμῐ (petắnnūmĭ, “to spread out”) and Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“embrace”), thus an "extension of water",
• πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”), particularly the third-person singular aorist middle indicative form ἔπτᾰτο (éptăto) which is close in form, thus a "flying stream of water".

Other theories relate the term to πόντος (póntos, “sea”) < Proto-Indo-European *pónteh₁s (“path, bridge”), (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) or to Proto-Indo-European *kweth₂- (“to bubble, foam”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /po.ta.mós/ → /po.taˈmos/ → /po.taˈmos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /po.ta.mós/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /po.taˈmos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /po.taˈmos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /po.taˈmos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /po.taˈmos/

Noun

ποτᾰμός • (potămós) m (genitive ποτᾰμοῦ); second declension

1. river, stream
2. canal

Declension

Second declension of ὁ ποτᾰμός; τοῦ ποτᾰμοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ποτᾰμός ho potămós	τὼ ποτᾰμώ tṑ potămṓ	οἱ ποτᾰμοί hoi potămoí
Genitive	τοῦ ποτᾰμοῦ toû potămoû	τοῖν ποτᾰμοῖν toîn potămoîn	τῶν ποτᾰμῶν tôn potămôn
Dative	τῷ ποτᾰμῷ tōî potămōî	τοῖν ποτᾰμοῖν toîn potămoîn	τοῖς ποτᾰμοῖς toîs potămoîs
Accusative	τὸν ποτᾰμόν tòn potămón	τὼ ποτᾰμώ tṑ potămṓ	τοὺς ποτᾰμούς toùs potămoús
Vocative	ποτᾰμέ potămé	ποτᾰμώ potămṓ	ποτᾰμοί potămoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of ποτᾰμός; ποτᾰμοῖο / ποτᾰμοῦ (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ποτᾰμός potămós	ποτᾰμώ potămṓ	ποτᾰμοί potămoí
Genitive	ποτᾰμοῖο / ποτᾰμοῦ potămoîo / potămoû	ποτᾰμοῖῐ̈ν potămoîĭ̈n	ποτᾰμῶν potămôn
Dative	ποτᾰμῷ potămōî	ποτᾰμοῖῐ̈ν potămoîĭ̈n	ποτᾰμοῖσῐ / ποτᾰμοῖσῐν / ποτᾰμοῖς potămoîsĭ(n) / potămoîs
Accusative	ποτᾰμόν potămón	ποτᾰμώ potămṓ	ποτᾰμούς potămoús
Vocative	ποτᾰμέ potămé	ποτᾰμώ potămṓ	ποτᾰμοί potămoí
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

• ῐ̔πποπότᾰμος (hĭppopótămos)
• μεσοποτάμιος (mesopotámios)

Further reading

• “ποταμός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ποταμός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ποταμός”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• “ποταμός” in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 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
• ποταμός in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ποταμός”, in Valerius Harpocration (edition, 1853), Wilhelm Dindorf, editor, Harpocrationis Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos, Oxford: Wilhelm Dindorf
• “ποταμός”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G4215 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ποταμός in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007), Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[2], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • river idem, page 718.
  • stream idem, page 824.
• Watkins, Calvert, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000
• ποταμός, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ποταμός (potamós).

Noun

ποταμός • (potamós) m (plural ποταμοί)

1. alternative form of ποτάμι (potámi) (river)

Declension

Declension of ποταμός

	singular	plural
nominative	ποταμός (potamós)	ποταμοί (potamoí)
genitive	ποταμού (potamoú)	ποταμών (potamón)
accusative	ποταμό (potamó)	ποταμούς (potamoús)
vocative	ποταμέ (potamé)	ποταμοί (potamoí)

Derived terms

• παραπόταμος (parapótamos)

Further reading

• ποταμός on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el