εἶμι

Forms

εἶμῐ (eîmi) ^[1] The participle Mycenaean Greek i-jo-te, “going”, is attested.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *éimi,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ei- (“to go”), an old athematic root present.^[3][4] The forms correspond closely across the family: the singular with ⟨ει-⟩ beside the plural with ⟨ι-⟩ matches Sanskrit एति (éti, “goes”) beside इमस् (imás), Lithuanian eĩti and the Hittite verb with a preverb, all from Indo-European *h₁éi-mi, 3rd person *h₁éyti.^[3][1] The imperative ἴθι (íthi) matches इहि (ihí), and the Homeric imperfect ἤια (ḗia) continues a reduplicated *h₁e-h₁ei-m.^[3]

Cognate with Latin eō (“to go”), Old Church Slavonic ити (iti) and Old English ēode (“went”).^[1][3] The iterative ἰτάω (itáō) matches itāre.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first attested in Mycenaean, as the participle i-jo-te, “those going”.^[2] In Homer it is a common verb of motion, with present sense: to go or come, of people, animals and things.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Only the present and imperfect are formed from this root; the other tenses come from ἔρχομαι (érkhomai) and ἦλθον (êlthon).^[5][3] The present indicative usually has present sense in Homer and sometimes in other poets, but in Ionic prose and in Attic it serves as the future of ἔρχομαι: εἶμι means “I shall go”.^[5][7]

Homer uses it of ships, of bees in flight, of an axe going through a beam, of clouds and stars, of a year passing and of a rumour spreading.^[6] Thucydides uses it in phrases such as “to go into conference” or “to come to blows”.^[6][5] The imperative ἴθι, “come on!”, became an exhortation before another imperative.^[6][5] In Hellenistic Greek the verb is rare; in the New Testament it appears only as a variant reading in John.^[7]

It forms many compounds, among them ἄνειμι (áneimi, “to go up”), εἴσειμι (eíseimi, “to go in”) and ἔξειμι (éxeimi, “to go out”).^[3][1]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The participle i-jo-te is attested on the tablets.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it with present sense, of people, animals and things.^[6][5]
• 5th century BC – In Ionic prose and in Attic the present indicative serves as a future, “I shall go”.^[5]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it in phrases such as “to come to blows”.^[6][5][2]
• New Testament – In the New Testament it appears only as a variant reading in John.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go or come, make one's way, of people and animals; in Ionic prose and Attic, with future sense, “I shall go”.^[5][6]
2. Of things: to go, move, of a ship, an axe, smoke, the stars; to pass, of time; to spread, of a report.^[5][6]
3. To approach, of death or a day.^[5]
4. (figurative) To enter into something, such as a conference, an alliance or a fight.^[5][6]
5. Imperative ἴθι, ἴτε: come on!, before another imperative.^[5][6]
6. Imperative ἴτω: let it go, so be it.^[5]

Word family

• ἄνειμι (áneimi)
• δίειμι (díeimi)
• διέξειμι (diéxeimi)
• εἴσειμι (eíseimi)
• ἐπέξειμι (epéxeimi)
• ἰσθμός (isthmós)
• κάτειμι (káteimi)
• ἔξειμι (éxeimi)
• ἴθμα (íthma)

Related words

• ἔρχομαι (érkhomai)
• Latin eō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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