τίς

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See also: τις and -τις

Ancient Greek

Pronunciation

 
  • (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Indo-European *kʷis. Cognates include Latin quis and Hittite (kuiš). Compare its indefinite form τις (tis, anyone, anything).

In Attic, the labiovelar *kʷ- becomes τ- before the front vowel ι and by analogy also before ου, in the genitive and dative singular, but π- before the rounded back vowel ο in most of the related interrogatives listed below.

Gen. sg. τοῦ < τέο < *kʷésyo (then basis for dat. sg. τῷ and gen. pl. τέων) and the paradigm change to n-stem must have started with *τίν < *kʷím elaborated with consonant stem ending, -ᾰ.

Alternative forms

Pronoun

τῐ́ς (tís) interrogative (also see indefinite pronoun τὶς or τις)

  1. (substantive)
    1. (masculine, feminine) who?
    2. (neuter) what?
  2. (adjective) what? which? what kind?
Usage notes
  • The neuter nominative/accusative τί () is never elided, but a hiatus is allowed in Attic Greek.
  • The stem iota remains short in every declined form.
Inflection
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
  • Greek: τις (tis), τι (ti)
  • Mariupol Greek: тыс (tys), ты (ty)

Etymology 2

See τις (tis).

Pronoun

τίς (tís)

  1. oxytone form of τις (tis, someone, anyone)
Usage notes

Used before another enclitic:

  • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Meno 70b:
    καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἔθος ῡ̔μᾶς εἴθικεν, ἀφόβως τε καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἀποκρῑ́νεσθαι ἐᾱ́ν τίς τι ἔρηται.
    kaì dḕ kaì toûto tò éthos [Gorgías] hūmâs eíthiken, aphóbōs te kaì megaloprepôs apokrī́nesthai eā́n tís ti érētai.
    And furthermore, has also accustomed you to the habit of answering fearlessly and magnificently if someone asks you something.

References

  1. ^ Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 382

Further reading

Greek

Pronoun

τίς (tís)

  1. Polytonic spelling of τις (tis)
    τίς πταίει;tís ptaíei?who is at fault?
    τίς εἶ; (military, recognition)tís eî?who are you?
    τίνι τρόπῳ;tíni trópōi?in what way?