εἶμι
Pronunciation
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
- 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]
- Of things: to go, move, of a ship, an axe, smoke, the stars; to pass, of time; to spread, of a report.[5][6]
- To approach, of death or a day.[5]
- (figurative) To enter into something, such as a conference, an alliance or a fight.[5][6]
- Imperative ἴθι, ἴτε: come on!, before another imperative.[5][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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
- ^ 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
- ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ 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