πρῶτον [41 verses](adj sg neut nom/acc or adj sg masc acc) "First" is protos. In place, this means "before," "in front," and, as a noun, "the foremost." Of time, it means "former," "earlier," and, as a noun, "the initial." In order, it means "the first." In math, it means the prime numbers. Of rank or degree, it means "superior" or, as a noun, "the highest" or "the best." -- The word translated as "first" takes a lot of different types of "first" meanings from its context. Here, it is technically an adjective but it plays the role of the English adverb "initially."