Ancient Greek

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (to watch, guard). There may have been an intermediate form *ϝοράω (*woráō), from Proto-Hellenic *worā́ō. If there was such a form with a digamma, then it is unclear why the augmented stem ἑωρ- occurs only in Attic, while ὡρ- is used in Homer and in inscriptions.[1]

Cognate with οὖρος (oûros, watcher, guardian), ὤρᾱ (ṓrā, care, concern), Latin vereor (fear), English aware (vigilant, conscious) and wary (cautious of danger).

Forms in ὀψ- (ops-), ὀπ- (op-) are from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (to see) (whence ὄψ (óps), ὄμμα (ómma)).[2]

Forms in εἰδ- (eid-) are from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (to see) (whence εἶδος (eîdos), ἵστωρ (hístōr)).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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ὁράω (horáō)

  1. (intransitive) to look with the eyes [with εἰς (eis, + accusative) ‘at something or someone’]
  2. (intransitive) to be able to see; (with negative) to be unable to see, to be blind
  3. (copulative) to look a certain way [with accusative adjective or adverb]
    1. Infinitive is added to an adjective, adverb, and so on to indicate that the description relates to sight: to see, to look at, to behold
      δεινὸς ἰδεῖν
      deinòs ideîn
      horrible to look at
  4. (transitive) to see, perceive, observe [with accusative ‘someone’ and participle ‘doing something’]
  5. (transitive) to find out [with indirect question]
    ὅρᾱ εἰ ...
    hórā ei ...
    see if/whether ...
  6. (transitive) to make sure [with infinitive ‘that ...’]
  7. (intransitive and transitive, figurative) to see with the mind, understand
    ὁρᾷς; ὁρᾶτε;
    horâis? horâte?
    Do you see?
  8. (transitive) to provide [with accusative ‘something’ and dative ‘for someone’]

Usage notes

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Along with a few others (λαβέ (labé), ἐλθέ (elthé), εὑρέ (heuré), εἰπέ (eipé)), the aorist imperative has an irregular accent: ἰδέ (idé) alongside ἴδε (íde). This is not the case in compounds, however.

Inflection

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Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὁράω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1095-6
  2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὄπωπα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1094

Further reading

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