# ὀπίσω
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* ὀπίσσω (opíssō) — Ionic

### Etymology

The usual explanation is to regard the base *ὀπί- (*opí-) < Proto-Hellenic *opí, *opi- < Proto-Indo-European *opí, as an ablaut variant of ἐπί (epí), ἐπι- (epi-) (from Proto-Indo-European *epí). Compare Mycenaean Greek 𐀃𐀠 (o-pi, “on”), Luwian [Term?] (/⁠appi⁠/, “back”), Latin op- (“upon”) (in for example operio (“to cover”)), Lithuanian api- (“about”).
Dunkel instead derives ὀπίσσω (opíssō) < Proto-Hellenic *opissō < Proto-Indo-European *op-ityo-o (“back, later”, adverb), from Proto-Indo-European *op-ityo- (“hindmost, rear”, adjective). Compare Hittite [script needed] (appezziya, “later”, adverb) and [script needed] (appezziya-, “hindmost, rear”, adjective). The base is thus Proto-Indo-European *óp, an ablaut variant of *áp (“away, back, after”, adverb), compare Latin ab (“away, from”), which fits much better semantically.
For the suffix compare πρόσσω (próssō), περισσός (perissós), εἴσω (eísō), and μέτασσαι (métassai, “those born later”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /o.pí.sɔː/ → /oˈpi.so/ → /oˈpi.so/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /o.pí.sɔː/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /oˈpi.so/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /oˈpi.so/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /oˈpi.so/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /oˈpi.so/

### Adverb

ὀπίσω • (opísō)
* (of place) backwards
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 12.272
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.218
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.443
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.710
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.149
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.207
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 528A
** 500 BCE – 400 BCE, Bacchylides, Collected Works 12.53
** 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, Joel 2.20
* back, back again, by the same way one took
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.326
** 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 3.62
** 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Theocritus, Collected Works 25.74
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.62
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.120
* again
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.14
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.92
** 407 BCE, Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 38
* (of time) hereafter
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.160
** 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 741
** 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 488
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 20.199
** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1104
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.352
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.483
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.343
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.109
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 18.250
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 24.452
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1000A.30
** 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 488
* following, yet to come
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.75

#### Derived terms

* ἐξοπίσω (exopísō)
* ὄπισθεν (ópisthen)
* ὀπισθόδομος (opisthódomos)
* ὀπίστατος (opístatos)

#### Related terms

* κατόπιν (katópin)
* ὀψέ (opsé)

#### Descendants

* Greek: πίσω (píso)

### Preposition

ὀπίσω • (opísō) (governs the genitive)
* after
** 70 CE – 110 CE, The Gospel of Matthew 4:19

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὄπισθεν (> DER > Further ὀπίσ(σ)ω)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1091
* ↑ Frisk, Hjalmar (1970) “ὀπίσω”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, pages 403-4
* ↑ Dunkel, George E. (2014) Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme [Lexicon of Indo-European Particles and Pronominal Stems] (Indogermanische Bibliothek. 2. Reihe: Wörterbücher) (in German), volume 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg, →ISBN, page 70
* ↑ Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008) “āppa”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 5), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

### Further reading

* “ὀπίσω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “ὀπίσω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “ὀπίσω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* ὀπίσω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* ὀπίσω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* “ὀπίσω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G3694 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. back idem, page 57.behind idem, page 71.