previous next

πρότερος πρότερος and πρῶτος comp. and Sup. formed from πρό

as Lat. prior, primus, from prae.
I.of Place, before, in front, forward, Il.; πόδες πρ. the fore feet, Od.
II.of Time, before, former, sooner, Hom., etc.; οἱ πρότεροι men of former times, Il.; πρότερος γενεῇ id=Il.; but, πρ. παῖδες children by the first or a former marriage, Od.; τῇ προτέρῃ (sc. ἡμέρᾳ) on the day before, Lat. pridie, id=Od.; πρότερος Διονύσιος Dionysius the elder, Xen.:—the adj. is often used where we use the adv., με πρότερος κάκ᾽ ἔοργεν Il., etc.
2.as a regular comp., c. gen., id=Il., Hdt., etc.; also foll. by , τῷ προτέρῳ ἔτεϊ κρητῆρα [ἐληίσαντο] Hdt.
III.of Rank, Worth, and generally of Precedence, before, above, superior, Dem.; πρ. τινος πρός τι superior to him in a thing, Plat.
IV.after Hom., neut. πρότερον as adv. before, sooner, earlier, Hdt., etc.; ὀλίγον πρ. Plat.:—c. gen., ὀλίγῳ τι πρ. τούτων Hdt., etc.; most commonly foll. by , id=Hdt., attic; also by πρίν, πρὶν ἄν, πρὶν , Hdt., attic; also used with the Art., τὸ πρ. τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων Hdt.: adv. often between Art. and Subst., e. g. πρότερον βασιλεύς id=Hdt.
B.Sup. πρῶτος, η, ον, contr. from *πρόατος, doric πρᾶτος,
I.adj. first, serving as the ordinal to the cardinal εἷς, Hom.
2.of Place, first, foremost, ἐνὶ πρώτοισι or μετὰ πρώτοισι alone, Il.; ἐν πρώτῳ ῥυμῷ at the front or end of the pole, id=Il.; πρώτῃσι θύρῃσι at the first or outermost doors, id=Il.
3.of Time, πρὸς πρώτην ἕω at first dawn, Soph.
4.of Order, πρῶτοι πάντων ἀνθρώπων Hdt.; τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν id=Hdt.:— ἐν πρώτοις, among the first, then like Lat. imprimis, above all, especially, greatly, id=Hdt.; in attic, ἐν τοῖς πρῶτοι (v. τό A. IV. 7):—in late Greek it is even foll. by a gen., πρῶτός μου NTest.
5.of Rank, μετὰ πρώτοισιν among the first men of the state, Od., etc.
II.neut. pl. πρῶτα, ων, τά,
1.(sc. ἆθλα), the first prize, Il., Soph.
2.the first part, beginning, τῆς Ἰλιάδος τὰ πρ. Plat., etc.
3.the first, highest, in degree, τὰ πρ. τᾶς λιμῶ (doric) the extremities of famine, Ar.; ἐς τὰ πρῶτα τιμᾶσθαι Thuc.:—of persons, ἐὼν τῶν Ἐρετριέων τὰ πρῶτα Hdt.; τὰ πρῶτα τῆς ἐκεῖ μοχθηρίας the chief of the rascality down there, Ar.
III.as adv.,
1.τὴν πρώτην (sc. ὥραν, ὁδόν) first, at present, just now, Hdt., etc.; so, τὴν πρώτην εἶναι, like ἑκὼν εἶναι, at first, id=Hdt.
2.with Preps., ἀπὸ πρώτης (sc. ἀρχῆς), Thuc.
3.most commonly in neut. sg. and pl., πρῶτον, πρῶτα,
a.first, in the first place, Lat. primum, Hom., etc.
b.= πρότερον, before, Xen., Anth.
4.first, for the first time, Soph., etc.; ἐπεὶ πρῶτον, Lat. quum primum, as soon as, Hom.; so, ὁππότε κε πρῶτον Od.; ὅτε or ὅταν πρ. Dem.; ἐὰν or ἢν πρ. Plat.
IV.adv. πρώτως, Arist., etc.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

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: