ἀριστερός

Apparently from ᾰ̓́ρῐστος (ắrĭstos, “best”) +‎ -τερος (-teros, “contrastive suffix”), though the left direction has negative connotations in many cultures and languages, including Greece.^[1] According to Chantraine, the suffix -τερος serves to differentiate and create a euphemistic contrast with ἄριστος; an unusual formation. The latter is taken to indicate on the right side in this case, the left side being its literal and metaphorical opposite.^[2]

ᾰ̓ρῐστερός • (ărĭsterós) m (feminine ᾰ̓ρῐστερᾱ́, neuter ᾰ̓ρῐστερόν); first/second declension

1. (euphemistic) left (opposite of right)

   Synonyms: λαιός (laiós), σκαιός (skaiós), εὐώνῠμος (euṓnŭmos)

   Antonyms: δεξῐός (dexĭós), δεξῐτερός (dexĭterós)

2. ominous; ill boding
3. clumsy; awkward

   Synonym: σκαιός (skaiós)

• Greek: αριστερός (aristerós)

• “ἀριστερός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀριστερός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἀριστερός”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἀριστερός in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G710 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • left idem, page 484.
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001), A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press