Aristotle Greek Lexicon ἀριστερός

ἀριστερός

aristeros

left, on the left

Appears 141 times across Aristotle's works.

Frequency by work

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Dictionary (LSJ)

ἀριστερός [ᾰ], ά, όν, A. left, on the left, ἐπʼ ἀριστερά towards, i.e. on, the left, Il. 2.526, al.; ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ χειρός Od. 5.277; ἐπʼ ἀ. χειρῶν A.R. 2.1266; ἐξ ἀριστερῶν Hp. Epid. 2.4.1; ἐν τοῖσι ἀριστεροῖσι ibid. 2. ἀριστερά (with or without χείρ), , left hand, ἐξ ἀριστερῆς χειρός on the left hand, Hdt. 2.30; simply ἀριστερῆς χ. Id. 4.34; ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς S. Ph. 20, Pl. Ti. 72c, etc.; οὑξ ἀριστερᾶς . . ναός S. El. 7; ἐς ἀριστερὴν χεῖρα ἤιε, ἐν ἀριστερῇ ἔχειν, Hdt. 7.42. 3. metaph., boding ill, ominous, because to a Greek, looking northward, unlucky signs came from the left, ἀ. ἤλυθεν ὄρνις Od. 20.242. 4. awkward, erring, φρενόθεν ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ ἔβας turnedst to the leftward of thy mind, S. Aj. 182 (lyr.); ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ εἴληφας τὸ πρᾶγμα in a sinister sense, Com.Adesp. 22.67 D.; τῷ ἀριστερῷ δέχεσθαι [λόγους] Plu. 2.378b. (Prop. ‘better’, cf. ἄριστος; euphemism (cf. εὐώνυμος) to avoid ill-luck.)

Key passages & sense analysis (Bonitz)

Index Aristotelicus. Hermann Bonitz's sense-by-sense analysis of ἀριστερός — 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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