ὅσος

See also: όσος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ὅσσος (hóssos) — Epic

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *hótsos, from earlier *yótyos, from Proto-Indo-European *yoti, adverb from *yós, whence ὅς (hós).^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hó.sos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)o.sos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.sos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.sos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈo.sos/

Adjective

ὅσος • (hósos)

(relative adjective) often as anaphor to τόσος, or πᾶς, ἅπας as much as, how much
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.670
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 19.169
- 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 286
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, First Philippic 35
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.190
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.723
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.115
- 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 976
- 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1464
- 391 BCE, Aristophanes, Assemblywomen 174
- 361 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Midias 44
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 12.86
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 10.113
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 14.371
- 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.45
- 500 BCE – 400 BCE, Bacchylides, Collected Works 1.1
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.658
- 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 118
- 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 1278
- 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 2
- 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 309
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.630
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 16.236
- 360 BCE, Plato, Timaeus 68B
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, On Horsemanship 11.12
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 6.1.10
1. (in plural the noun may be in nominative or partitive genitive)
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 12.13
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.267
  - 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 441
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.55
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 467D
2. (in Attic, of time)
3. (with τις)
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 10.45
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.193
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.102
4. (with accusative absolute)
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.170
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 423B
5. (with adjectives expressing quantity)
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.194
  - 388 BCE, Aristophanes, Plutus 750
  - 390 BCE, Plato, Hippias Major 282C
  - 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Halcyon 5
  - 110 BCE – 35 BCE, Philodemus, On Rhetoric 1.3.91
  - 1 CE – 100 CE, Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, De Natura Deorum 9
  - 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Alexander the False Prophet 1
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 350D
  - 213 CE – 273 CE, Cassius Longinus, Collected Works 1.1
  - 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 150D
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laches 184C
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 588A
  - 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Theocritus, Collected Works 1.45
6. (with superlative)
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.44
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.21
  - 411 BCE, Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 727
  - 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Theocritus, Collected Works 1.42
  - 300 BCE – 250 BCE, Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.589
7. (with infinitive) so much as is enough for
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.2
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 4.1.5
  - 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1191
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.49
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 416E
(for ὅτι τοσοῦτος)
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.75
- 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 74
(followed by particles)
1. (ὅσος ἄν) how ever great
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.66
2. (ὅσος δή) how great, how ever many
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 15.487
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.52
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.160
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.151
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.157
  - 350 BCE – 250 BCE, Euclid, Elements 9.9
  - 331 CE – 363 CE, Julian, Orations 3.119A
  - 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.45
  - 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.60
3. (ὁσοσοῦν) ever so small
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.199
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1265A.41
4. (ὅσοσπερ) even so great as, no greater than
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.50
  - 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 475
  - 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 423
  - 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 441
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.87
  - 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 806
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 10.113
(ὅσῳ, ὅσῳ περ, often with comparative) by how much
- 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 40
- 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, Fragments 488.3
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.3.14
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.82
- 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 59
- 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1050
1. (with comparative, when followed by another comparative with τοσούτῳ) the more.., so much the more..
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 7.5.80
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 368B
  - 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 1419
  - 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 792
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.84
  - 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Olive Stump 39
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.137
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.49
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.13
  - 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 313
  - 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 743
2. (ἐν ὅσῳ) while
  - 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 943
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.87

Inflection

First and second declension of ὅσος; ὅση; ὅσον (Attic)

Number	Singular			Plural
Case/Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ὅσος hósos	ὅση hósē	ὅσον hóson	ὅσοι hósoi	ὅσαι hósai	ὅσᾰ hósa
Genitive	ὅσου hósou	ὅσης hósēs	ὅσου hósou	ὅσων hósōn	ὅσων hósōn	ὅσων hósōn
Dative	ὅσῳ hósōi	ὅσῃ hósēi	ὅσῳ hósōi	ὅσοις hósois	ὅσαις hósais	ὅσοις hósois
Accusative	ὅσον hóson	ὅσην hósēn	ὅσον hóson	ὅσους hósous	ὅσᾱς hósās	ὅσᾰ hósa
Vocative	ὅσε hóse	ὅση hósē	ὅσον hóson	ὅσοι hósoi	ὅσαι hósai	ὅσᾰ hósa
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Greek: όσος (ósos)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὅσος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1118

type	interrogative	indefinite	(medial) demonstrative	proximal demonstrative	distal demonstrative	relative	indefinite relative	identity	other
basic	τίς	τις, ἔνιοι	†ὁ, οὗτος	ὅδε	ἐκεῖνος	ὅς	ὅστις	ὁ αὐτός (αὑτός), ὁμός	ἕτερος, ἄλλος
dual	πότερος	πότερος, ποτερός				ὁπότερος
quality	ποῖος	ποιός	†τοῖος, τοιοῦτος	τοιόσδε		οἷος	ὁποῖος	ὅμοιος	ἑτεροῖος, ἀλλοῖος
quantity	πόσος	ποσός	†τόσος, τοσοῦτος	τοσόσδε		ὅσος	ὁπόσος
manner	πῶς	πως	†τώς, †ὥς, οὕτως	ὧδε		ὡς	ὅπως	ὁμῶς	ἑτέρως, ἄλλως
method, path, place	πῇ	πῃ	τῇ, ταύτῃ	τῇδε	ἐκείνῃ	ᾗ	ὅπῃ		ἄλλῃ
place	ποῦ, †πόθι	που, †ποθι	ἐνταῦθα	ἐνθάδε	ἐκεῖ, ἔνθα, †ἐκεῖθι	οὗ, ἔνθα, †ὅθι	ὅπου, †ὁπόθι	αὐτόθι, ὁμοῦ	ἄλλοθι
source	πόθεν	ποθεν	†τόθεν, ἔνθεν, ἐντεῦθεν	ἐνθένδε	ἐκεῖθεν	ὅθεν	ὁπόθεν	†ὁμόθεν	ἄλλοθεν
destination	ποῖ, †πόσε	ποι	ἔνθα, ἐνταῦθα	ἐνθάδε, δεῦρο	ἐκεῖσε	οἷ	ὅποι, †ὁπόσε	αὐτόσε, ὁμόσε	ἄλλοσε
time	πότε, πῆμος	ποτέ, ποτε, τοτέ, ἐνίοτε	τότε, τῆμος	τημόσδε		ὅτε, ἦμος	ὁπότε, †ὁππῆμος	ἅμα	ἄλλοτε
exact time	πηνίκα		†τηνίκα, τηνικαῦτα	τηνικάδε		ἡνίκα	ὁπηνίκα	αὐτίκα
duration of time			τέως			ἕως
size, age	πηλίκος	πηλίκος	†τηλίκος, τηλικοῦτος	τηλικόσδε		ἡλίκος	ὁπηλίκος	ὁμῆλιξ
repetition	ποσάκις, ποσίνδα	ποσάκις	τουτάκις, τοσάκις			†ὁσάκις ὁποσάκις	ὁποσάκις
multiplication	ποσαπλάσιος					ὁσαπλάσιος, ὁσαπλασίων
order	πόστος	ποστός					ὁπόστος
† Forms rarely or never used in Classical Attic prose Relative also used in exclamations; either relative or indefinite relative used in indirect questions.