Aristotle › Greek Lexicon › ἆρα

ἆρα

ara

anxiety

Appears 169 times across Aristotle's works.

Frequency by work

Click a work to list every occurrence by Bekker number — each links into the reader.

Dictionary (LSJ)

ἆρα, interrog. Particle, implying A. anxiety or impatience, = Ep. and Lyr. ἦ ῥα: 1. alone, it simply marks the question, the nature of which is determined by the context: e.g. in D. 35.44 a negative answer is implied in the question ἆρʼ ἂν οἴεσθε . . ; but an affirmative in X. Cyr. 4.6.4 ἆ. βέβληκα δὶς ἐφεξῆς; cf. ἆρʼ εὐτυχεῖς . . ἢ δυστυχεῖς; E. Ph. 424.—To make it plainly neg., we have ἆ. μή . . ; A. Th. 208, Pl. Phd. 64c; and to make it plainly affirmative, ἆρʼ οὐ; ἆρʼ οὐχί; S. OC 791, OT 540; ἆρʼ οὐχ οὕτως; Pl. Phlb. 11d. 2. ἆ. οὖν; is used to draw an affirmative inference, Id. Grg. 477a, La. 190b; also when a neg. answer is expected, Id. Chrm. 159b; with a neg., ἆρʼ οὖν οὐ . . ; Id. Phdr. 263a, etc. 3. in ἆρά γε, each Particle retains its force, γε serving to make the question more definite, Ar. Pl. 546, X. Mem. 1.5.4, etc. 4. less freq. with τίς interrog., τίνος ποτʼ ἆρʼ ἔπραξε χειρί S. Aj. 905; τίδʼ ἆρʼ ἐγὼ σέ; E. IA 1228; τίς ἆρʼ ὁ φεύγων; Ar. V. 893; with ἤν, E. Rh. 118. 5. in indirect questions, σκεψώμεθα τοῦτο ἆ . . . Pl. Phd. 70e, cf. R. 526c, al., Arist. Ph. 204b3, etc. II. in Poets sts. like ἄρα, Archil. 86,89, Pi. P. 4.78, Ar. V. 3; τοιοῖσδε χρησμοῖς ἆ. χρὴ πεποιθέναι; A. Ch. 297, cf.435; τῷ δὲ ξιφήρης ἆρʼ ὑφειστήκει λόχος E. Andr. 1114: in exclamations, βραδεῖαν ἡμᾶς ἆρʼ ὁ τήνδε τὴν ὁδὸν πέμπων ἔπεμψεν S. Aj. 738; ὀδυνηρὸς ἆρʼ ὁ πλοῦτος E. Ph. 566, cf.El. 1229, Hipp. 1086; ἦ δεινὸν ἆρʼ ἦν Id. Fr. 931; ἔμελλόν σʼ ἆ. κινήσειν Ar. Nu. 1301, cf. Ach. 347. B. In Prose, ἆ. almost always stands first in the sentence, but cf. Pl. Grg. 467e; καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτων ἆ. . . Jul. Or. 2.61c: in Poetry greater licence is taken, v. supr. I.4, II.

Key passages & sense analysis (Bonitz)

Index Aristotelicus. Hermann Bonitz's sense-by-sense analysis of ἆρα — with the passages he singles out as decisive for each meaning — will appear here. That curated, interpretive selection is the layer LSJ and a raw concordance don't provide. Digitisation in progress; this entry is not yet available.
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