τρεῖς, οἱ, αἱ, τρία, τά:
genitive τριῶν:
dative τρισί, also τριοῖσι [
Refs 6th c.BC+];
Aeolic dialect τρίσσι [
Refs] (written τρες [
Refs]:
Doric dialect nominative τρέες [
Refs]; τρῖς [
Refs 4th c.BC+]; τρῖς [
Refs 6th c.BC+]:—
three, [
Refs 8th c.BC+]; τρία ἔπεα
three words, proverbial in [
Refs 5th c.BC+]—for from the earliest times
three was a sacred and lucky number, especially with the Pythagoreans (compare τριάς), [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; εἰ καὶ τῶν τριῶν ἓν οἴσομαι[
Refs] —διὰ τριῶν ἀπόλλυμαι I am
thrice, i. e.
utterly, undone, [
Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ διὰ τριῶν ἀγωγή the 'trivium', [
Refs 6th c.AD+]
by threes, [
Refs 5th c.BC+] stem
tr[icaron], fuller form
trey, nominative tréy-es (Sanskrit
tráyas, Latin
tres), whence τρέες,
contraction τρῆς and τρεῖς (written τρες [
Refs];
accusative tri-ns (Gothic
prins, Sanskrit
tr[imacracute]n), whence τρῖς and τρίιν; in Gr. the
nominative τρεῖς functions as
accusative (as in
Attic dialect), or the
accusative τρῖς as
nominative ([same places]).)