πέτρα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• πέτρη (pétrē) — Epic, Ionic

Etymology

Unknown. In the absence of an explanation, Beekes prefers a Pre-Greek borrowing, noting that Meier-Brügger's derivation from a Proto-Indo-European *per-trom (“instrument for getting through”) (from *per- (“to go through, fare”) +‎ *-trom (“instrument suffix”)) is semantically implausible. Not related to Hindi पत्थर (patthar, “stone”), which is composed of Indo-European elements.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pé.traː/ → /ˈpe.tra/ → /ˈpe.tra/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pé.traː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.tra/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.tra/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.tra/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.tra/

Noun

πέτρᾱ • (pétrā) f (genitive πέτρᾱς); first declension

1. rock formation: cliff, ledge, cave, ridge
2. stone (as a building material)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ πέτρᾱ; τῆς πέτρᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ πέτρᾱ hē pétrā	τὼ πέτρᾱ tṑ pétrā	αἱ πέτραι hai pétrai
Genitive	τῆς πέτρᾱς tês pétrās	τοῖν πέτραιν toîn pétrain	τῶν πετρῶν tôn petrôn
Dative	τῇ πέτρᾳ têi pétrāi	τοῖν πέτραιν toîn pétrain	ταῖς πέτραις taîs pétrais
Accusative	τὴν πέτρᾱν tḕn pétrān	τὼ πέτρᾱ tṑ pétrā	τᾱ̀ς πέτρᾱς tā̀s pétrās
Vocative	πέτρᾱ pétrā	πέτρᾱ pétrā	πέτραι pétrai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἐπίπετρον (epípetron)
• πετράεις (petráeis)
• πετραία (petraía)
• Πετραίη (Petraíē)
• πετραῖον (petraîon)
• πετραῖος (petraîos)
• πετράκης (petrákēs)
• πετρηγενής (petrēgenḗs)
• πετρηδόν (petrēdón)
• πετρήεις (petrḗeis)
• πετρηρεφής (petrērephḗs)
• πετρήρης (petrḗrēs)
• πετρίδιον (petrídion)
• πετρίνη (petrínē)
• πέτρινος (pétrinos)
• πέτριον (pétrion)
• πετρίς (petrís)
• πετρώδης (petrṓdēs)
• πετρώεις (petrṓeis)
• πέτρωμα (pétrōma)
• πετρών (petrṓn)
• πετρώνιον (petrṓnion)
• ὑπόπετρος (hupópetros)

 

Related terms

• πέτρος (pétros)

Descendants

• Greek: πέτρα (pétra)
• Mariupol Greek: пе́тра (pjétra)
• → Latin: petra (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “πέτρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πέτρα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πέτρα 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
• “πέτρα”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G4073 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • boulder idem, page 90.
  • cliff idem, page 137.
  • corycian cave idem, page 176.
  • rock idem, page 719.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra).

Cognate with Mariupol Greek пе́тра (pjétra).

Noun

πέτρα • (pétra) f (plural πέτρες)

1. rock, stone (mass or fragments)
2. (figuratively) rock (something hard and stable)
3. (nautical) rock (rocky hazard)

Declension

Declension of πέτρα

	singular	plural
nominative	πέτρα (pétra)	πέτρες (pétres)
genitive	πέτρας (pétras)	πετρών (petrón)
accusative	πέτρα (pétra)	πέτρες (pétres)
vocative	πέτρα (pétra)	πέτρες (pétres)

Synonyms

• (rock): λίθος m (líthos, “stone”)
• (rock): βράχος m (vráchos, “stone”)

Related terms

• πέτρωμα n (pétroma, “rock”)
• πέτρινος (pétrinos, “rock”)
• οποία πέτρα κι αν σηκώσεις, τον βρίσκεις από κάτω (opoía pétra ki an sikóseis, ton vrískeis apó káto, “of people who are ubiquitous”) (literally: "whichever stone you pick up, you find him underneath")

Further reading

• πέτρα on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el
• πέτρα, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language