δικεῖν

Forms

δῐκεῖν (dikeîn) ^[1] Only the aorist is in use (ἔδικον, infinitive δικεῖν); a present δίκει in Aristaenetus is probably a false reading.^[2][3]

Etymology

The verb has no certain etymology.^[3][1] Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because the connection with δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to show”) is difficult in meaning and because its derivative δίκτυον (díktuon) is hard to explain as Indo-European.^[4][1] Furnée compared the Cretan gloss λιχάξαι (likháxai, “to throw”), which also points to a Pre-Greek word.^[4] Brugmann and Gonda derived it from the root of δείκνυμι (deíknumi), with an original sense “to bring in a direction, to aim”, from which both “to show” and “to throw” would come.^[5][4] Frisk, Chantraine and the DGE follow them.^[5][3][6] LIV instead sets up a separate root *dei̯ḱ- (“to throw”), comparing a Khotanese verb meaning “to throw”, and Beekes considers this possible.^[4][7][1]

Chantraine calls the verb an archaism with no present and no compounds, which nevertheless gave old technical derivatives: δίσκος (dískos, “discus”), from *δικσκος (*dikskos), and δίκτυον (díktuon) “net”.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Pindar, who uses it of a victor at Olympia hurling the stone discus farther than all his rivals.^[6][8][2]

Semantic evolution

It remained a word of lyric and tragic poetry.^[3][9] Aeschylus uses it of casting away a vessel, Bacchylides of Theseus throwing himself into the sea, his father's house, and Euripides of bodies flung to the ground and of the dragon's teeth sown in the furrows.^[6][2] In Euripides' Heracles it means to raise or aim one's hand towards the sky in prayer.^[2][9]

Hesychius glosses it “to throw, to hurl”, adding that the words for “net” and “discus” come from it, and records the compound imperative ἄνδικε “throw up!”, the noun ἀνδικά “a throw” and ἀνδίκτης, the bar of a mousetrap that springs up, a word Callimachus also uses.^[10][4][3]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of throwing the discus.^[6][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of casting away a vessel in the Libation Bearers.^[2][6]
• 5th century BC – Bacchylides uses it of Theseus throwing himself into the sea.^[6]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of bodies flung to the ground and of a hand raised towards the sky.^[2][9]
• 1st century AD – Cornutus has the infinitive δίκειν.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw, cast or fling an object, a corpse or one's own body, often to a place.^[2][9][6]
2. To aim or direct one's hand towards the sky, in supplication.^[2][9]
3. (intransitive) To make a throw with a stone, of a discus thrower.^[9][6]
4. To hit or strike.^[2][3]

Word family

• δίκτυον (díktuon)
• δίσκος (dískos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)