ἄν
Ancient Greek
Etymology 1
Uncertain. Has been connected to similar particles in other Indo-European languages, especially Latin an and Gothic 𐌰𐌽 (an), from Proto-Indo-European *an.
A more recent hypothesis derives it instead from the phrase οὐκ αν (ouk an), supposing that it had been reanalyzed from an original *οὐ καν (*ou kan), in turn from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu-kn̥; compare οὐκί (oukí), οὐ (ou).
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /án/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /an/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /an/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /an/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /an/
Particle
ᾰ̓́ν • (án) (modal particle)
- Expresses potentiality or conditionality
- (only Epic, with subjunctive in main clauses) in that case and future tense
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.184–184:
- ἐγὼ δέ κ' ἄγω Βρισηΐδα καλλιπάρῃον
αὐτὸς ἰὼν κλισίηνδε τὸ σὸν γέρας ὄφρ' ἐῢ εἰδῇς
ὅσσον φέρτερός εἰμι σέθεν […]- egṑ dé k' ágō Brisēḯda kallipárēion
autòs iṑn klisíēnde tò sòn géras óphr' eǜ eidêis
hósson phérterós eimi séthen […] - [Agamemnon speaking to Achilles]: But in that case I myself will lead away your prize, fair-cheeked Briseis, and go to my tent, so that you may learn well how much greater I am than you.
- egṑ dé k' ágō Brisēḯda kallipárēion
- ἐγὼ δέ κ' ἄγω Βρισηΐδα καλλιπάρῃον
- (with optative) Expresses future potentiality: would or could do or be doing
- (with imperfect indicative) Expresses present or rarely past potentiality: were doing, would be doing
- (with aorist indicative) Expresses past potentiality
- 341 BCE, Demosthenes, Third Philippic 68:
- καὶ μὴν ἐκεῖνό γ᾽ αἰσχρόν, ὕστερόν ποτ᾽ εἰπεῖν ‘τίς γὰρ ἂν ᾠήθη ταῦτα γενέσθαι; νὴ τὸν Δί᾽, ἔδει γὰρ τὸ καὶ τὸ ποιῆσαι καὶ τὸ μὴ ποιῆσαι.’
- kaì mḕn ekeînó g᾽ aiskhrón, hústerón pot᾽ eipeîn ‘tís gàr àn ōiḗthē taûta genésthai? nḕ tòn Dí᾽, édei gàr tò kaì tò poiêsai kaì tò mḕ poiêsai.’
- And definitely it is a shame to have to say after the fact "Who on earth could have imagined this would happen? By Zeus, of course [we] should have done this and that, and not done this and that."
- καὶ μὴν ἐκεῖνό γ᾽ αἰσχρόν, ὕστερόν ποτ᾽ εἰπεῖν ‘τίς γὰρ ἂν ᾠήθη ταῦτα γενέσθαι; νὴ τὸν Δί᾽, ἔδει γὰρ τὸ καὶ τὸ ποιῆσαι καὶ τὸ μὴ ποιῆσαι.’
- (only Epic, with subjunctive in main clauses) in that case and future tense
- (with past indicative) Expresses unreality
- (with aorist) Past or rarely present unreality: would have done, would do
- (with imperfect) Present or past unreality: would do, would be doing; would have been doing
- (with pluperfect) Present or less commonly past unreality:
- (with past indicative) Expresses iteration or habituality: had done, had been doing; would have done, would have been doing; used to do
- 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 22b:
- ἀναλαμβάνων οὖν αὐτῶν τὰ ποιήματα ἅ μοι ἐδόκει μάλιστα πεπραγματεῦσθαι αὐτοῖς, διηρώτων ἂν αὐτοὺς τί λέγοιεν, ἵν᾽ ἅμα τι καὶ μανθάνοιμι παρ᾽ αὐτῶν.
- analambánōn oûn autôn tà poiḗmata há moi edókei málista pepragmateûsthai autoîs, diērṓtōn àn autoùs tí légoien, hín᾽ háma ti kaì manthánoimi par᾽ autôn.
- Taking up [the poets'] works that seemed to me to have taken them the most trouble [to write], I would question them on what they meant, so that I could at the same time learn something from them.
- ἀναλαμβάνων οὖν αὐτῶν τὰ ποιήματα ἅ μοι ἐδόκει μάλιστα πεπραγματεῦσθαι αὐτοῖς, διηρώτων ἂν αὐτοὺς τί λέγοιεν, ἵν᾽ ἅμα τι καὶ μανθάνοιμι παρ᾽ αὐτῶν.
- (with Ionic past iterative)
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.130:
- οἱ δὲ ἂν Πέρσαι ἐπελθόντες λάβεσκον τὰ πρόβατα καὶ λαβόντες ἐπηείροντο ἂν τῷ πεποιημένῳ.
- hoi dè àn Pérsai epelthóntes lábeskon tà próbata kaì labóntes epēeíronto àn tôi pepoiēménōi.
- The Persians used to attack and seize the cattle and take them and, after taking them, to be encouraged by this achievement.
- οἱ δὲ ἂν Πέρσαι ἐπελθόντες λάβεσκον τὰ πρόβατα καὶ λαβόντες ἐπηείροντο ἂν τῷ πεποιημένῳ.
- (with subjunctive in subordinate clauses) Expresses generality, and often translatable with present or future tense in English
- When combined with infinitive or participle in indirect speech, represents a finite verb with ἄν in direct speech
Derived terms
References
- ἄν (Α) in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ἄν in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2019)
- ἄν in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ἄν”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 97
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /ǎːn/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /an/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /an/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /an/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /an/
References
- ἄν (B) in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ἄν in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- ἄν in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- ἄν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- ἄν in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
- ἄν in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
- G302 in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
- ἄν in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
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