ὄρθρος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₃r̥dʰ-ro-, from *h₃erdʰ- (“to rise”). Cognate with ὀρθός (orthós), Latin ortus (“star's rise”), oriens (“sunrise”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ór.tʰros/ → /ˈor.θros/ → /ˈor.θros/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ór.tʰros/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈor.tʰros/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.θros/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.θros/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈor.θros/

Noun

ὄρθρος • (órthros) m (genitive ὄρθρου); second declension

1. The time immediately before or around sunrise: dawn, early morning twilight

   ὄρθρος βαθύς ― órthros bathús ― dim morning twilight

   • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Crito 43a:

     ΣΩ.   τί τηνικάδε ἀφῖξαι, ὦ Κρίτων; ἢ οὐ πρῲ ἔτι ἐστίν;
     ΚΡ.   πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
     ΣΩ.   πηνίκα μάλιστα;
     ΚΡ.   ὄρθρος βαθύς.

     SŌ.   tí tēnikáde aphîxai, ô Krítōn? ḕ ou prṑi éti estín?
     KR.   pánu mèn oûn.
     SŌ.   pēníka málista?
     KR.   órthros bathús.

     Socrates: Why have you come at this time, Crito? Or isn't it still early?
     Crito: Yes, very much so.
     Socrates: About what time?
     Crito: Dim morning twilight.

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ὄρθρος; τοῦ ὄρθρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ὄρθρος ho órthros	τὼ ὄρθρω tṑ órthrō	οἱ ὄρθροι hoi órthroi
Genitive	τοῦ ὄρθρου toû órthrou	τοῖν ὄρθροιν toîn órthroin	τῶν ὄρθρων tôn órthrōn
Dative	τῷ ὄρθρῳ tôi órthrōi	τοῖν ὄρθροιν toîn órthroin	τοῖς ὄρθροις toîs órthrois
Accusative	τὸν ὄρθρον tòn órthron	τὼ ὄρθρω tṑ órthrō	τοὺς ὄρθρους toùs órthrous
Vocative	ὄρθρε órthre	ὄρθρω órthrō	ὄρθροι órthroi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Further reading

• “ὄρθρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὄρθρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• G3722 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.
  • dawn idem, page 197.
  • dusk idem, page 256.
  • morning idem, page 541.
  • twilight idem, page 903.
• ὄρθρος - ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ (since 2011) Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch) University of Chicago.