previous next
ἀριστερός [α^], ά, όν,
A.left, on the left, ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερά towards, i.e. on, the left, Il.2.526, al.; “ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ χειρός” Od.5.277; “ἐπ᾽ ἀ. χειρῶν” A.R. 2.1266; “ἐξἀριστερῶν” Hp.Epid.2.4.1; ἐν τοῖσι ἀριστεροῖσι ibid.
2. ἀριστερά (with or without χείρ), ἡ, left hand, ἐξ ἀριστερῆς χειρός on the left hand, Hdt.2.30; simply “ἀριστερῆς χ.” Id.4.34; “ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς” S.Ph.20, Pl.Ti.72c, etc.; “οὑξ ἀριστερᾶς . . ναός” S.El.7; ἐς ἀριστερὴν χεῖρα ἤιε, ἐν ἀριστερῇ ἔχειν, Hdt.7.42.
3. metaph., boding ill, ominous, because to a Greek, looking northward, unlucky signs came from the left, “ἀ. ἤλυθεν ὄρνις” Od.20.242.
4. awkward, erring, φρενόθεν ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ ἔβας turnedst to the leftward of thy mind, S.Aj. 182 (lyr.); ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ εἴληφας τὸ πρᾶγμα in a sinister sense, Com.Adesp.22.67 D.; τῷ ἀριστερῷ δέχεσθαι [λόγους] Plu.2.378b. (Prop. 'better', cf. ἄριστος; euphemism (cf. εὐώνυμος) to avoid ill-luck.)
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
How to enter text in Greek:
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: