Ancient Greek

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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According to Beekes and LIV, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷel(h₃)- (to want, wish) (with no certain cognates), but with unexplained and pervasive o-grade in the present.[1] The root may be identical to *gʷelH- (to hit by throwing), via semantic shift "to throw" > "to throw (desires)" > "to want", but this is speculative.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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βούλομαι (boúlomai)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) to will, wish, be willing, want [with accusative ‘something’; or with infinitive ‘to do something’] (usually stronger than ἐθέλω (ethélō), implying choice or preference)
  2. (transitive) to mean
  3. (intransitive) to pretend, claim [with infinitive ‘to do something’]
  4. (transitive) to prefer [with accusative ‘something’ or infinitive ‘to do something’, along with μᾶλλον (mâllon ḗ) or () ‘over something else’]

Inflection

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References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “βούλομαι”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 231

Further reading

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