εἴκω

Forms

εἴκω (eíkō) ^[1] Future εἴξω, aorist εἶξα, poetic ἔειξα (Alcman ἔϝειξα), Ionic iterative εἴξασκε; a second aorist εἰκαθεῖν in Sophocles and Apollonius of Rhodes.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *wéikō,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *u̯ei̯g- (“to move away, give way”).^[4][5] Homer still shows the initial digamma.^[4][6] Of the verbs in *u̯ei̯k-, none fits the meaning; Sanskrit विजते (vijáte, “flees, gives way”), Old Saxon wīkan and Old High German wīhhan (“to give way”) fit it well, but they point to a root ending in *-g-.^[4][7] Beekes therefore takes the Greek -κ- as generalised from forms with an ending beginning in a consonant, or from the s-aorist, as Frisk and the LIV also assume.^[4][5] He adds Tocharian B wik- (“to disappear”) to the family.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: the Iliad uses it for not shrinking from the fight, for warriors giving way backwards, and for ranks of men giving way before a charge.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

Homer already uses the whole range of its meanings: to step aside for someone, to give up a place or a fight, to yield to an impulse (“yielding to his anger”), to be inferior to someone, and, transitively, to give a horse the rein.^[2][3] Tragedy and prose use it above all for giving way to force and circumstance: to necessity in Aeschylus, to misfortunes in Thucydides, to old age in Herodotus.^[2][3] Sophocles uses it for a god granting fair sailing.^[2][3]

The verb is still found in Koine: Paul writes in Galatians that he did not yield even for an hour, and Galen uses it of matter yielding to pressure.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for giving way in battle and for yielding to an impulse.^[2][8]
• 7th century BC – Alcman has the aorist with the digamma, and Tyrtaeus uses it of giving way to poverty.^[2][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of yielding to necessity.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of making way on a road and of yielding to age.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – Paul uses it in the Epistle to the Galatians.^[9][10]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it of yielding to pressure.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To step aside, withdraw; to make way for someone.^[2][3]
2. To give way before an enemy, fall back; with the genitive, to withdraw from (fighting, a place).^[2][3]
3. To give up something to someone else: a seat, a place, a road.^[3][2]
4. To relent, give up one's anger.^[3]
5. To yield to someone, submit; to give way as a mark of respect.^[2][3][9]
6. To be inferior to someone in something.^[2][3]
7. To give way to circumstances (necessity, misfortune, poverty, age) or to a passion or impulse.^[2][3]
8. (transitive) To yield up, let go: to give a horse the rein; of a god, to grant.^[2][3]
9. (impersonal) It is possible.^[2][3]

Related words

• ἐπιεικής (epieikḗs)

Usage notes

The grammarians list a separate present *εἴκω “to be like, seem likely”, which is not attested: its forms belong to ἔοικα (éoika).^[2][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 h i j k l m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
11. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli