πρύτανις

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

πρότανις (prótanis) — Aeolic
βρύτανις (brútanis) — Phocian, Cretan

Etymology

In view of the close resemblance to Etruscan 𐌐𐌖𐌓𐌈𐌍𐌄 (purθne, “title of an official”), this word probably belongs to the Anatolian-Aegean stratum of social designations (compare ἄναξ (ánax), βασιλεύς (basileús) and τύραννος (túrannos)); attested with a Hittite suffix -uri (meaning “great, grand” in titles like in grand vizier) in an Ugaritic text as [Cuneiform needed] (ḫupurtanuri), likely passed as *οπορτανις (*oportanis) / *οπυρτανις (*opurtanis) and clipped with the first syllable interpreted as the Greek article and then modified by secondary association with πρό (pró, “before”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /prý.ta.nis/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpry.ta.nis/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpry.ta.nis/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpry.ta.nis/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpri.ta.nis/

Noun

πρῠ́τᾰνῐς • (prŭ́tănĭs) m (genitive πρῠτᾰ́νεως); third declension

prince, ruler, lord, chief
(at Athens) member of the tribe presiding in boule
prytanis, title of a chief magistrate

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ πρῠ́τᾰνῐς; τοῦ πρῠτᾰ́νεως (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ πρῠ́τᾰνῐς ho prŭ́tănĭs	τὼ πρῠτᾰ́νει tṑ prŭtắnei	οἱ πρῠτᾰ́νεις hoi prŭtắneis
Genitive	τοῦ πρῠτᾰ́νεως toû prŭtắneōs	τοῖν πρῠτᾰνέοιν toîn prŭtănéoin	τῶν πρῠτᾰ́νεων tôn prŭtắneōn
Dative	τῷ πρῠτᾰ́νει tôi prŭtắnei	τοῖν πρῠτᾰνέοιν toîn prŭtănéoin	τοῖς πρῠτᾰ́νεσῐ / πρῠτᾰ́νεσῐν toîs prŭtắnesĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸν πρῠ́τᾰνῐν tòn prŭ́tănĭn	τὼ πρῠτᾰ́νει tṑ prŭtắnei	τοὺς πρῠτᾰ́νεις toùs prŭtắneis
Vocative	πρῠ́τᾰνῐ prŭ́tănĭ	πρῠτᾰ́νει prŭtắnei	πρῠτᾰ́νεις prŭtắneis
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἀρχῐπρῠ́τᾰνῐς (arkhĭprŭ́tănĭs)
πρυτανάρχης (prutanárkhēs)
πρυτανεία (prutaneía)
πρυτανεῖον (prutaneîon)
πρυτάνειος (prutáneios)
πρυτάνευμα (prutáneuma)
πρυτανεύς (prutaneús)
πρυτανεύω (prutaneúō)
πρυτανικός (prutanikós)
πρυτανῖτις (prutanîtis)

Descendants

→ English: prytanis

“πρύτανις”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“πρύτανις”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
πρύτανις in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
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
Szemerényi, Oswald (1974) “The origins of the Greek lexicon: Ex Oriente Lux”, in The Journal of Hellenic Studies‎^[1], volume 94, →DOI, page 154 with more references