# -tos -os suffix



## Arkantos

What does it mean the suffix "-os" (or "-tos") in greek???


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## pulcinella

It refers to the suffix of groups of words (adjectives mainly). For ex:

συνετός
αρεστός
συμβατός


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## Vagabond

Hm? Maybe I am not getting the question right (quite probable at this hour), but in general -ος is an ending signifying the masculine gender (be it an adjective or a noun). There are exeptions, that is some words ending in -ος are feminine or neutral; in general though, when you see an -ος ending and you have to guess, go with masculine gender.


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## pulcinella

Yes, very precise Vagabond's answer. Just want to specify that when I said "mainly adjectives" I was refering to -tos (I thought that the question referred to the suffix -os/-tos) and I think that -tos is mainly a typical suffix of adjectives. -os is common for both masculine adjectives and nouns, even though, as Vagabond notes, it can sometimes be the suffix of feminine or neutral.


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## anthodocheio

I don't know about -tos, but at least -os is not a suffix. Is an ending... (I believe...)


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## pulcinella

anthodocheio said:


> I don't know about -tos, but at least -os is not a suffix. Is an ending... (I believe...)


 ma... suffix is the ending of words that can change in different persons, numbers, tenses - as far as I remember from the faaar past of university years...  - so -os and -tos should be suffixes. I think suffix is the more formal/grammar word for the more informal ending - or not? I think that suffix exactly means κατάληξη.


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## balgior

Hello!

Maybe we are looking for an an answer like this one (in Greek)! Or maybe not... What do you think?

"-τος" - who/which can do/be...

Arkantos, some context/example?


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## Arkantos

Yes, my question is because I want to find the meaning of my nickname, and I know that it's something in Latin or Greek (or both).

For example, I was looking for the meaning of -tos and -os and I found names with this suffix like Chris-tos.

According with what you said here, it's something such "who got..." ain't?


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## balgior

Hmmm... You know, names sometimes are not that clear to figure out what they mean or what their origin is. So, do we have the "Arkan-" part and we're missing the "-tos"? Since you picked up a nickname that you don't know its meaning, would you please help us understand how you formed it? It might help us understand its meaning.

If my guess is right, then you must be named after a game character. Which makes things even more complicated, since it may be a Greek-sounding name, made-up just for the game, or a "real" Greek mythology character (since the link I provided  messes up with Greek mythology) whose name is being used in the game's scenario.

So, we need to wait for someone that knows Greek mythology in depth, since I haven't heard that name before, and my guess is that the game designers just came up with a Greeky-name. Maybe, if there is such a name in Greek mythology, we may find out what *you* mean!


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## Kevman

anthodocheio said:


> I don't know about -tos, but at least -os is not a suffix. Is an ending...


anthodocheio's point is that there is a difference between a _suffix_ and a mere _ending_: -ος is an inflectional ending, a part of the word that changes to indicate the word's declination, as opposed to a suffix like -τος which is added onto a word and carries meaning.  In fact, -τος can itself be declined: -τος, -τοι, -του, -των, etc, so you can see how a word formed with one _suffix_ may still have different _endings_.

Κατάληξη just means "conclusion" or "outcome," so it can refer to both endings and suffixes, but a word formed by the addition of a suffix is known as a παραγωγή, so a more precise Greek term for "suffix" is _παραγωγική κατάληξη_.

In the case of "Arkantos" -ος is most likely just the singular nominative ending of the so-called 'O Declension,' as it manifests predominately in masculine nouns, but also in a few feminines. This is the case with the name "Christ-os" (which I believe is technically a substantivized adjective meaning "anointed [one]," and the -os just signifies that he's masculine and singular and the subject of the verb). There is also a category of neuter nouns whose underlying stems end in -εσ, which appears as -ος in the nominative, accusative and vocative singular.

As for whether "Arkantos" is actually formed with the suffix -τος (and not just the stem "Arkant-" with the ending -os), we'd need to find out more about the word itself, as balgior said.


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## pulcinella

Kevman said:


> anthodocheio's point is that there is a difference between a _suffix_ and a mere _ending_: -ος is an inflectional ending, a part of the word that changes to indicate the word's declination, as opposed to a suffix like -τος which is added onto a word and carries meaning. In fact, -τος can itself be declined: -τος, -τοι, -του, -των, etc, so you can see how a word formed with one _suffix_ may still have different _endings_.
> 
> Κατάληξη just means "conclusion" or "outcome," so it can refer to both endings and suffixes, but a word formed by the addition of a suffix is known as a παραγωγή, so a more precise Greek term for "suffix" is _παραγωγική κατάληξη_.


Your distinction, Kevman, makes sense but I'm still not sure if ending is different from suffix or if they are synonyms and they consist of different kinds of subcategories, one of which being the _παραγωγική κατάληξη_. The suffix -tos for example is a derivational suffix (as it gives lexical information) while the -os is an inflectional one (as it gives grammatical info).An encyclopedia online (en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Suffix) gives them as synonyms - but maybe it only depends on different viewpoints of linguists.


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## Arkantos

Yes, I took the nick from that game years ago. But I'd like to know if it really has a meaning.

I think "arkan" comes from Latin: "arcanus" (secret, mystery). -tos is the problem and I'm almost sure that is something in Greek or to give a Greek-sounding thing to the name, as Balgior has mentioned.

I risk one possible meaning:

arkan-tos = "who has secrets" or "the mysterious one"

A Latin/Greek hybrid. Although I still have doubts about "-τος" and perhaps the name means absolutely nothing. That's why I ask to the people who speak Greek here.

Thanks a lot to Kevman and to everyone who tried to help me with this existential doubt, I've realized several things about Greek language.


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## pulcinella

Arkantos said:


> Yes, I took the nick from that game years ago. But I'd like to know if really have a meaning.
> 
> I think "arkan" comes from Latin: "arcanus" (secret, mystery). -tos is the problem and I'm almost sure that is something in Greek or to give a Greek-sounding thing to the name, as Balgior has mentioned.
> 
> I risk one possible meaning:
> 
> arkan-tos = "who have secrets" or "the mysterious one"
> 
> A Latin/Greek hybrid. Although I still have doubts about "-τος" and perhaps the name means absolutely nothing. That's why I ask to the people who speaks Greek here.
> 
> Thanks a lot to Kevman and to everyone who tried to help me whit this existential doubt, I've realized several things about Greek language.


If it indeed comes from "arcanus", the meaning that you propose is very possible. When -tos is added to the root of a verb, it means "that it xxx (the meaning of the verb)", eg:
χειροποίητος (that is made by hand, manufactured, as χειρ is hand and πιοώ make)
βατός (that can be walked upon, βα coming from βαίνω, get/go somewhere)

When it is added to a noun root, it can mean "that has", eg:
συνετός (someone who has good sense, σύνεση)

So your assumption "someone who has secrets" sounds very possible.


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## Arkantos

Cool! Zeus bless you


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## BloodgodArmor8

Vagabond said:


> Hm? Maybe I am not getting the question right (quite probable at this hour), but in general -ος is an ending signifying the masculine gender (be it an adjective or a noun). There are exeptions, that is some words ending in -ος are feminine or neutral; in general though, when you see an -ος ending and you have to guess, go with masculine gender.



I am putting together the below exsplanation to school some...less informed folk about the Translation of Christ's name from the Hebrew Yeshuah to Jesus or Iesous! 
Help me to complete my explanation.
So many linguisticly ignorant people suggest that the ancient Greek god Zeus was inserted, and I am trying to prove them wrong.
What does the last part "ous" or "us" mean.
This is what I have so far.
Let me no if I'm on the right track.

First off, you see how "Messiah" and "Kristos" are two entirely differant words.
Yet they both mean "annointed one."
The greek and the Hebrew Alphabet is entirely differant though some of the letters have similarly patterned pronounciations.
The sounds that you hear in the Hebrew are not in the Greek.
Therefore certain letter in the Hebrew have to be compensated for what is in the Greek to translate the name Yeshuah to Jesus or Iesous.
For example; there is no "Yah" sound in the Greek.
Therefore the next and closest sound is IE.
Since the Greek has no "Sh" sound as in ye-SH-uah;' the next letter would be the Greek letter "Sigma"


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## Timothy1987

The 'Ark' in 'Arkantos' could also be another way of rendering the Greek letter 'x', thus 'Ark' could be related to a number of words in a lordly nature, such as άρχων, etc...


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## Timothy1987

BloodgodArmor8 said:


> I am putting together the below exsplanation to school some...less informed folk about the Translation of Christ's name from the Hebrew Yeshuah to Jesus or Iesous!
> Help me to complete my explanation.
> So many linguisticly ignorant people suggest that the ancient Greek god Zeus was inserted, and I am trying to prove them wrong.
> What does the last part "ous" or "us" mean.
> This is what I have so far.
> Let me no if I'm on the right track.
> 
> First off, you see how "Messiah" and "Kristos" are two entirely differant words.
> Yet they both mean "annointed one."
> The greek and the Hebrew Alphabet is entirely differant though some of the letters have similarly patterned pronounciations.
> The sounds that you hear in the Hebrew are not in the Greek.
> Therefore certain letter in the Hebrew have to be compensated for what is in the Greek to translate the name Yeshuah to Jesus or Iesous.
> For example; there is no "Yah" sound in the Greek.
> Therefore the next and closest sound is IE.
> Since the Greek has no "Sh" sound as in ye-SH-uah;' the next letter would be the Greek letter "Sigma"



Excuse me, but the 'yah' sound can be represented a number of ways in Greek, such as ια, για, υια, and so on.


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## dotka

Hello everyone, although what I read was somewhat helpful, I would like to renew the thread .

I know NOTHING about Greek. I am writing a thesis on translation of proper names in "A Game of Thrones" into Polish and French, and the suffix -os in the names of the continents, ("Westeros", "Essos"), caught my eye. I know George R.R. Martin does not speak any Greek and is generally not a linguist, and he picks names because "they sound right". But you have to admit it DOES sound very right here, there are a lot of words of Greek origin or Greek names that and with "-os", like "epos", "eros", "tanatos". So I would like to make sure that "-os" does not have any semantic meaning, it just grammatically indicates a masculine form of a noun?

Any help would be most welcome .
THX


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## skamnelis

Arkantos does not necessarily mean anything, if it is a name from a computer game. It sounds remotely Greek but isn't, unless it has been misspelled. 

The suffix -os in the nominative can be masculine, feminine or neutral, although it is usually masculine.


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