See also: εκ, εκ., and ἐκ-

Ancient Greek

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Alternative forms

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  • ἐξ (ex)before a vowel, both in compounds and as a separate word

Etymology

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From Proto-Hellenic *eks, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (out of).[1][2]

Cognates include Latin ex, ē, Old Irish ess-, a, ass (Irish as), Lithuanian ìš, Old Church Slavonic из (iz), Northern Kurdish ji, Albanian ith.

The genitive is from the PIE ablative of separation.

Pronunciation

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Preposition

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ἐκ (ek) (governs the genitive)

  1. (of place)
    1. (of motion) Out of, from
    2. from, with the source of
    3. to denote change from one place or condition to another
      ἐκ τῆς οἰκίᾱς αὐτῶν, κεἰς τὴν μου
      ek tês oikíās autôn, keis tḕn mou
      from their house, and into mine
    4. to express separation of distinction from a number
    5. (of position) outside, beyond
  2. (of time)
    1. from, since
    2. (of particular points of time) just, after
      ἐκ τούτου
      ek toútou
      after this
    3. during, in
  3. (of origin)
    1. (of materials) made out of something
    2. (of descent, parentage) descended from
      ἐκ πατρὸς εὐγενοῦς
      ek patròs eugenoûs
      (born) of a noble father
      ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων
      ek tôn homoíōn
      of an equal
    3. (of causation) done by someone, something
    4. of the cause, instrument, or means by which a thing is done
    5. from, according to
      ἐκ τοῦ καρποῦ τὸ δένδρον
      ek toû karpoû tò déndron
      from the fruit the tree (is judged)
    6. turns a following noun into a periphrastic adverb
    7. (with numerals) in such an order

Usage notes

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  • In Attic inscriptions (not in literary writing), ἐξ (ex) is found before words beginning with σ, ξ, ζ, ρ, and sometimes λ.
  • In inscriptions, the compound may appear as ἐγ- before β, δ, λ, μ, and ν, but this does not happen in literary writing (e.g. ἐκλελέχθαι (eklelékhthai)).

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Greek: εκ (ek), ξε- (xe-)
  • Esperanto: ek-
  • Ido: ek

References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἐκ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 395
  2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἐξ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 433

Further reading

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