Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• κόθεν

Adverb

πόθεν • ‎(póthen) (interrogative adverb)

1. whence?, from where?
2. whence?, from what source?
3. wherefore?, why?, how?, for what reason?, how come?

Usage notes

• This word can be used to introduce direct and indirect questions. ὁπόθεν ‎(hopóthen) can only introduce indirect questions.
• Object generally takes the genitive case.

Related terms

• ποῦ ‎(poû)
• ὅθεν ‎(hóthen)
• πούθε ‎(poúthe)

References

• πόθεν in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• πόθεν in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πόθεν in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «πόθεν» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• «πόθεν» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• πόθεν in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• “G4159”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • festival idem, page 316.
  • quarter idem, page 663.
  • source idem, page 797.
  • whence idem, page 975.
• 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