οὕτως

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• οὕτω (hoútō) — sometimes before a consonant
• οὑτωσῑ́ (houtōsī́) — emphatic

Etymology

Adverb from οὗτος (hoûtos, “this”) +‎ -ως (-ōs, adverbial ending).

Pronunciation

Adverb

οὕτως • (hoútōs) (demonstrative adverb)

1. in this manner, thus, so
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.178
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.148
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 475
   • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Ion 534A
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 112
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.1, (compare Theocritus, Collected Works 7.45)
   • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, Collected Works 269B
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 370A
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 2.2.2
   • 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 244
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.10
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.158
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 5.204
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.201
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.262
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.373
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 19.300
   1. even so, just so
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.348
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Oeconomicus 1.9
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 551B
   2. (with imperative, added emphasis)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 21.184, (compare Odyssey 5.146)
   3. (the introduction of the apodosis after a protasis)
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.158
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.131
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.92
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.96
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Philebus 44E, (compare Gorgias 457C)
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 7.1.4
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.15
2. (in a really inferential sense) so, therefore
   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 677
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 61B
3. (with an adjective or adverb) so, so much, so excessively
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.169
   • 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 1056
   • 414 BCE, Aristophanes, The Birds 63
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.32
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 477A
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 7.4.3
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.52
   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 220
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 736
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.28
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.12
4. (sometimes used like αὔτως (aútōs)) so, merely, simply
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.120
   • 385 BCE – 380 BCE, Plato, Symposium 176E
   • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 464B
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 633C
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1067
   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 315
   • 399 BCE, Plato, Euthyphro 3B
   • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Lysis 216A
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Philebus 12C
   • 438 BCE, Euripides, Alcestis 680

Usage notes

οὕτω (hoútō) is only used before a consonant, while οὕτως (hoútōs) must be used before a vowel and can be used before a consonant. οὑτωσῑ́ (houtōsī́) is a strengthened form found in Attic. οὕτως (hoútōs) is often left out after ὡς (hōs). οὕτως (hoútōs) generally comes immediately before the word it modifies, but is sometimes after, especially in poetry, and is sometimes not immediately before. The last syllable in οὕτω (hoútō) is sometimes shortened in Homer before a vowel (correption).

Derived terms

• οὕτω νῦν Ζεὺς θείη (hoútō nûn Zeùs theíē, “so help me God”)
• οὕτω ποτ' ἦν μῦς καὶ γαλῆ (hoútō pot' ên mûs kaì galê, “once upon a time”)
• οὕτως ἔχειν (hoútōs ékhein, “so much for”)
• ὁ οὕτω λεγόμενος (ho hoútō legómenos, “so called”)

See also

Further reading

• “οὕτως”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “οὕτως”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• οὕτως in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• οὕτως in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G3779 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.
  • case idem, page 116.
  • rate idem, page 673.
  • so idem, page 790.
  • strain idem, page 822.
  • this idem, page 867.
  • thus idem, page 873.