See also: έρχομαι

Ancient Greek

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Etymology

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From Proto-Indo-European *h₁ergʰ- (to move, go), cognate with ὀρχέομαι (orkhéomai), Albanian erdha (I came), Old Irish regaid (will go, future of téit), Sanskrit ऋघायति (ṛghāyáti, to be passionate). Alternatively, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁r-ske-ti, an inchoative of *h₁er- (to move, go).[1]

This is a suppletive verb, with tenses derived from three different roots; see εἶμι (eîmi) and ἦλθον (êlthon) for the etymologies of the other two roots. Discussion of stems, at Notes.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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ἔρχομαι (érkhomai)

  1. (intransitive) to go
  2. (intransitive) to come

Usage notes

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ἔρχομαι is a suppletive verb that typically uses forms from other roots for all tenses and moods besides present indicative. Stems:

  • ἐρχ- of ἔρχομαι.
  • strong εἰ-, weak - supplied by εἶμι (eîmi) forming present non-indicative and imperfect indicative forms. Its present indicative forms have future meaning in Attic prose.
  • strong ἐλευθ-, weak ἐλυθ- with syncope ἐλθ- of unused verb *ἐλεύθω (*eleúthō, to come). Later, that verb, meaning "I come," merged with this verb meaning "I go." This is still seen in the present imperative having a connotation of "go away!," with the aorist imperative having a connotation of "come here!."
    • from ἐλευθ- the future ἐλεύσομαι (eleúsomai) (alternative future for Epic, Ionic, and Tragic), the derivative ἔλευσις (éleusis, arrival)
    • from ἐλυθ- the present perfect with attic reduplication ἐλ-έλυθα>ἐλ-ήλυθα (reduplication plus extension of the first vowel).
    • ἐλθ- supplies aorist ἦλθον (êlthon)

Past perfect without augment.
The aorist imperative has irregular accent on ultima when not in compound ἐλθέ (elthé) and not *ἔλθε. But ἄπελθε. (Along with a few others (λαβέ (labé), ἰδέ (idé), εὑρέ (heuré), εἰπέ (eipé)).

Inflection

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Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Compounds
  • and see more than 80 compounds at perseus

Descendants

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  • Greek: έρχομαι (érchomai, to come)

References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἔρχομαι”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 468

Further reading

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