πρόσωπον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From an earlier *προτι-ωπ-ον (*proti-ōp-on, “what is opposite to the eyes (of the other)”), analyzed as πρότι (próti, “opposite”) +‎ ὤψ (ṓps, “eye”) +‎ -ον (-on, “nominative neuter suffix”); for the first component, see πρός (prós, “towards”). In light of exact cognates such as Tocharian B pratsāko (“chest”) and Sanskrit प्रतीक (prátīka, “face, appearance”), this compound may have been directly inherited from Proto-Indo-European *prétih₃kʷo-, though it is equally possible it was formed independently of its cognates.^[1]

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pró.sɔː.pon/ → /ˈpro.so.pon/ → /ˈpro.so.pon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pró.sɔː.pon/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpro.so.pon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpro.so.pon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpro.so.pon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpro.so.pon/

Noun

πρόσωπον • (prósōpon) n (genitive προσώπου); second declension

1. face, visage, countenance
2. front
3. mask
4. character, part in a drama
5. appearance
6. person

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ πρόσωπον tò prósōpon	τὼ προσώπω tṑ prosṓpō	τᾰ̀ πρόσωπᾰ tằ prósōpă
Genitive	τοῦ προσώπου toû prosṓpou	τοῖν προσώποιν toîn prosṓpoin	τῶν προσώπων tôn prosṓpōn
Dative	τῷ προσώπῳ tôi prosṓpōi	τοῖν προσώποιν toîn prosṓpoin	τοῖς προσώποις toîs prosṓpois
Accusative	τὸ πρόσωπον tò prósōpon	τὼ προσώπω tṑ prosṓpō	τᾰ̀ πρόσωπᾰ tằ prósōpă
Vocative	πρόσωπον prósōpon	προσώπω prosṓpō	πρόσωπᾰ prósōpă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. There exist numerous lengthened plurals, such as προσώπατα (prosṓpata) and προσώπασι (prosṓpasi).

Second declension of τὸ πρόσωπον; τοῦ προσώπου (Attic)

Derived terms

• αἰγοπρόσωπος (aigoprósōpos)
• ἱερᾱκοπρόσωπος (hierākoprósōpos)
• ἱπποπρόσωπος (hippoprósōpos)
• πολῠπρόσωπος (polŭprósōpos)
• προσωπεῖον (prosōpeîon)
• προσωπικῶς (prosōpikôs)
• προσωποληπτέω (prosōpolēptéō)
• προσωποποιέω (prosōpopoiéō)
• προσωποποιία (prosōpopoiía)
• προσωποποιός (prosōpopoiós)
• τετρᾰπρόσωπος (tetrăprósōpos)

 

Descendants

• Greek: πρόσωπο (prósopo)
• → Aramaic: פרצופא

  Classical Syriac: ܦܪܨܘܦܐ

• → English: prosopon
• →? Etruscan: 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu)
  • →? Latin: persōna (see there for further descendants)
• → Hebrew: פַּרְצוּף (partsúf)
• → Romanian: prosop

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “πρόσωπον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1240

Further reading

• “πρόσωπον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πρόσωπον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πρόσωπον”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πρόσωπον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• πρόσωπον in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πρόσωπον”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G4383 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • countenance idem, page 177.
  • disguise idem, page 233.
  • expression idem, page 296.
  • face idem, page 299.
  • look idem, page 498.
  • mask idem, page 516.
  • physiognomy idem, page 611.
  • visage idem, page 954.