ἐκκαλέω

Forms

• ἐκκᾰλέω (ekkaléō); aorist ἐκκάλεσα (Homer ἐκκαλέσας), middle ἐκκαλέομαι; pluperfect middle ἐξεκέκλητο (Polybius).^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐκ- (ek-, “out”) + καλέω (kaléō, “to call”), “to call out”.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad (24.582) it is used for calling out the serving women; in the Odyssey the word is used for calling someone out to talk, and in the middle voice of Hermes calling forth the souls of the suitors to lead them to the underworld.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, to call someone out of a house or out of doors, is common in tragedy, comedy and prose: in Euripides' Bacchae Cadmus is to be called out of the palace, and in Herodotus Themistocles is called out of the council.^[3][4] Pindar uses it of Teiresias summoned as a prophet.^[5] The verb also meant to draw out or call forth a feeling: in Aeschylus joy calls forth a tear, and Aeschines speaks of rousing anger.^[3] Polybius uses the middle voice for drawing out the enemy's cavalry to fight, and a comic poet for songs that lure women.^[3][4] With an infinitive it meant to call on someone to do something.^[3]

The verb became a legal term: an inscription from Chios of the 6th century BC already uses the middle for appealing to the people's council, and later Athenian inscriptions and Plutarch use it for appealing against a judgment.^[4][3] The passive rendered the Latin evocari, of the gods of an enemy city called out of it.^[3][4] The Septuagint uses it for calling someone out, as when the men of Sodom call out to Lot.^[6][4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for calling someone out and summoning souls.^[2][3]
• 6th century BC – An inscription from Chios uses the middle for an appeal to the people's council.^[4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of joy calling forth a tear.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it for calling someone out of a building.^[3][4]
• 3rd century BC – The Septuagint uses it in Genesis and Deuteronomy.^[6][7]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses the middle for drawing out the enemy to battle.^[3][4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for an appeal against a judgment and for the Roman calling out of an enemy's gods.^[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To call out or forth, summon someone out of a place.^[3][2][4]
2. (middle) To call out to oneself; to call someone out to talk.^[3][2]
3. To call forth, elicit a feeling: tears, anger.^[3]
4. (military) To draw out, provoke the enemy to battle; to lure or entice.^[3][4]
5. To call on someone to do something.^[3]
6. (law) To summon to give evidence.^[4]
7. (law, middle) To appeal against a judgment; figuratively, to refer a problem to something.^[4][3]
8. To invoke; in the passive, of the gods of an enemy city, to be called out, Latin evocari.^[4][3]

Related words

• καλέω (kaléō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux