χώρα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• χώρη (khṓrē) — Ionic

Etymology

Of uncertain origin. Beekes compares χήρα (khḗra, “widow”), assuming common derivation from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave behind”), with original meaning "unoccupied (left-behind) space". This is far from certain, however.^[1]

Older theories take the word as possibly loaned from a Pre-Greek substrate or other regional language. Has been tentatively and inconclusively compared with χᾰ́ος (kháos, “empty space, abyss, chasm”) as well as χατέω (khatéō, “to lack, miss, need, desire”); Beekes dismisses these connections as unfounded, particularly that with χατέω (khatéō).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰɔ̌ː.raː/ → /ˈxo.ra/ → /ˈxo.ra/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰɔ̌ː.raː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰo.ra/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈxo.ra/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈxo.ra/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈxo.ra/

Noun

χώρᾱ • (khṓrā) f (genitive χώρᾱς); first declension

1. location, place, spot (see Latin locus)
2. the proper place
3. one's place in life
4. piece of land: tract, land, field
5. country (opposite town), countryside
6. country, nation

Declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ χώρᾱ hē khṓrā	τὼ χώρᾱ tṑ khṓrā	αἱ χῶραι hai khôrai
Genitive	τῆς χώρᾱς tês khṓrās	τοῖν χώραιν toîn khṓrain	τῶν χωρῶν tôn khōrôn
Dative	τῇ χώρᾳ têi khṓrāi	τοῖν χώραιν toîn khṓrain	ταῖς χώραις taîs khṓrais
Accusative	τὴν χώρᾱν tḕn khṓrān	τὼ χώρᾱ tṑ khṓrā	τᾱ̀ς χώρᾱς tā̀s khṓrās
Vocative	χώρᾱ khṓrā	χώρᾱ khṓrā	χῶραι khôrai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ἡ χώρᾱ; τῆς χώρᾱς (Attic)

Derived terms

• χωρογρᾰ́φος (khōrográphos)
• χωροφῠ́λᾰξ (khōrophúlax)

 

Related terms

• χῶρος (khôros, “space, place”)

Descendants

• → Aromanian: hoarã
• → Bulgarian: хо́ра (hóra, “people, community”)
• → Classical Syriac: ܟܘܪܐ (kōrā), ܟܘܪ (kōr)
  • → Arabic: كُورَة (kūra)
  • → Old Armenian: քորայ (kʻoray)
• → Coptic: ⲭⲱⲣⲁ (khōra)
• Greek: χώρα (chóra)
• Mariupol Greek: хора (xora)
• English: isochoric
• English: epichoric

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χώρα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1654-5

Further reading

• “χώρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “χώρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• χώρα 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
• “χώρα”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G5561 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.
  • atarneus idem, page 49.
  • country idem, page 178.
  • domain idem, page 246.
  • dominion idem, page 247.
  • estate idem, page 283.
  • ilian idem, page 414.
  • land idem, page 475.
  • landscape idem, page 475.
  • picenum idem, page 611.
  • place idem, page 616.
  • position idem, page 628.
  • post idem, page 629.
  • province idem, page 654.
  • quarter idem, page 663.
  • region idem, page 687.
  • room idem, page 721.
  • scenery idem, page 738.
  • situation idem, page 780.
  • space idem, page 797.
  • spot idem, page 804.
  • territory idem, page 863.
  • tract idem, page 885.
  • vacancy idem, page 941.
  • zone idem, page 997.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• “χώρα”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

Greek

Noun

χώρα • (chóra) f (plural χώρες)

1. (geography) main town or village
2. (geography) country, (especially) homeland, country of birth

   Synonym: πατρίδα (patrída)

   Η Σκωτία είναι χώρα που αποτελεί τμήμα του ΗΒ.

   I Skotía eínai chóra pou apoteleí tmíma tou IV.

   Scotland is a country that is part of the UK.

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	χώρα •	χώρες •
genitive	χώρας •	χωρών •
accusative	χώρα •	χώρες •
vocative	χώρα •	χώρες •

Declension of χώρα

Coordinate terms

• κράτος f (krátos, “state”)

Related terms

• ενδοχώρα f (endochóra, “hinterland”)
• χωράφι n (choráfi, “field”)
• χωριό n (chorió, “village”)
• χώρος m (chóros, “environment”)
• χωρώ (choró, “to hold”)

 

Verb

χώρα • (chóra)

1. 2nd person singular imperfective imperative form of χωρώ (choró).
2. 2nd person singular perfective imperative form of χωρώ (choró).