ῥήτωρ

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ῥήτηρ (rhḗtēr) — Epic

Etymology

Agent noun formation from εἴρω (eírō, “I speak”), synchronically analyzable as ῥή- (rhḗ-) +‎ -τωρ (-tōr).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /r̥ɛ̌ː.tɔːr/ → /ˈri.tor/ → /ˈri.tor/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /r̥ɛ̌ː.tɔːr/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈre̝.tor/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈri.tor/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈri.tor/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈri.tor/

Noun

ῥήτωρ • (rhḗtōr) m (genitive ῥήτορος, diminutive ῥητορίσκος); third declension

1. orator, public speaker
2. politician, statesman
3. attorney, court advocate
4. judge
5. rhetorician

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ῥήτωρ; τοῦ ῥήτορος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ῥήτωρ ho rhḗtōr	τὼ ῥήτορε tṑ rhḗtore	οἱ ῥήτορες hoi rhḗtores
Genitive	τοῦ ῥήτορος toû rhḗtoros	τοῖν ῥητόροιν toîn rhētóroin	τῶν ῥητόρων tôn rhētórōn
Dative	τῷ ῥήτορῐ tôi rhḗtori	τοῖν ῥητόροιν toîn rhētóroin	τοῖς ῥήτορσῐ / ῥήτορσῐν toîs rhḗtorsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ῥήτορᾰ tòn rhḗtora	τὼ ῥήτορε tṑ rhḗtore	τοὺς ῥήτορᾰς toùs rhḗtoras
Vocative	ῥῆτορ rhêtor	ῥήτορε rhḗtore	ῥήτορες rhḗtores
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ῥητορεία (rhētoreía, “oratory”)
• ῥητορεύω (rhētoreúō, “I speak publicly”)
• ῥητορικός (rhētorikós, “oratorical, rhetoric”)

Descendants

• Greek: ρήτορας (rítoras)
• → Latin: rhētor
  • → English: rhetor
  • → French: rhéteur
  • Italian: retore
  • Sicilian: rituri
  • → Spanish: rétor
• → Polish: retor
• → Russian: ритор (ritor)

Further reading

• “ῥήτωρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ῥήτωρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ῥήτωρ 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
• G4489 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.
  • debater idem, page 199.
  • orator idem, page 578.
  • politician idem, page 625.
  • professional idem, page 653.
  • public idem, page 655.
  • public speaker idem, page 655.
  • rhetorician idem, page 712.
  • speaker idem, page 799.
  • statesman idem, page 812.