πρώτ-ιστα

Grammatical information: adj.

Meaning: `foremost, first' (Il.).

Other forms: Dor. Boeot. πρᾶτος.

Compounds: As 1. member very productive, e.g. πρωτό-γονος `first-born' (ep. poet. Il.).

Derivatives: 1. Superlative πρώτ-ιστα (adv.) `first of all', - ιστος (ep. poet. Il.), Dor. (Thera) πράτιστος `the very first' (Seiler Steigerungsformen 105). 2. πρωτ-εῖον n. `first prize, first rank' (Att.); - ειος `of the first rank'. 3. - εύω `to be first' (Att.) with the backformation πρωτεύς adjunct to λαός (Tim. Pers. 248; cf. Wil. ad loc.). Several shortnames, e.g. Πρωτ-εύς m. Seagod (Od. etc.; Bosshardt 128f.), - τέας, - τίων, Πρατ-ίνας, - ύλος etc. (Bechtel Hist. Personennamen 387). -- On Πρω-τεσί-λαος, - λεως (Il. etc.) s. Risch $ 71 a.

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [814] XX [unknown]

Etymology: As with the cardinals (cf. οἶος, εἷς and Kretschmer Einl. 10ff.) deviate also with the ordinals, a. even stronger, the expressions for the singular from one another. In Greek πρῶτος, πρᾶτος as innovation joined the sequence τρίτος, τέταρτος etc.; the initial syllable is explained in diff. ways. Most obvious is to compare, πρῶ-, πρᾶ-(τος) with Lith. pìr-mas, Skt. pū́r-va-, Av. paur-va- as representing a zero grade pr̥̄-, i.e. *pr̥H-; the variation πρω-: πρᾱ- can, if not old (Lejeune BSL 29, 117ff.), be explained as partial adaptation to πρό, πρότερος though it is not clear how this would have come about. DELG says that *pr̥H- can give both πρᾱ- and πρω-, but the first requires *pr̥h₂-, the second *pr̥h₃-, so the two cannot come from the same form. A basis *πρό-ατος, for πρῶτος possible, is not possible for πρᾶτος. Schwyzer 361 and 250 w. lit.; s. also on πρῳ̃ ρα and Pisani Ist. Lomb. 77, 563. Older lit. in Bq. Cf. Beekes Development 214f.

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