ἐννέπω

Forms

ἐννέπω (ennépō) ^[1] Also ἐνέπω (enépō), the headword in LSJ, the CGL and the DGE, while Wiktionary calls ἐννέπω the epic, Doric and tragic form.^[2][3][4][1] Aorist ἔνισπον (imperative ἐνίσπες, plural ἔσπετε, infinitive ἐνισπεῖν), future ἐνισπήσω, ἐνίψω; later poets made a present ἐνίσπω.^[2][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to say”) with the preverb ἐν- (en-): the zero grade of the root is seen in the aorist ἐνισπεῖν (enispeîn) and in the imperative ἔσπετε (éspete), from *ἔνσπετε (*énspete).^[6][4][7][8] The imperative ἔννεπε (énnepe) is identical with Latin inseque (“say, tell”), which goes with Latin inquam (“I say”).^[6][7]

Frisk takes the double ν as a metrical lengthening of ἐνέπω (enépō); others explain it as an Aeolic assimilation of a cluster of nasal and s, and Beekes leaves the question open.^[7][6][8]

Cognate with Old Irish insce (“speech”), from Proto-Indo-European *en(i)-skʷ-iā, dialectal Lithuanian sekù ‘to say’ and Old Norse segja (“to say”).^[6][4] From the same root come ἄσπετος (áspetos, “unspeakable”), θεσπέσιος (thespésios, “divinely sounding”) and θέσπις (théspis).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for telling and telling of; the Odyssey opens with the imperative: ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα “tell me, Muse, of the man” (Odyssey 1.1).^[2][5] He uses the present only in the imperative, the optative and the participle, besides the imperfect ἔννεπε.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it simply for ‘to speak’, of men speaking with crooked words.^[2] Sappho has the form with double ν, Pindar both forms and the first present indicative, and the Boeotian poet Corinna the infinitive ἐνέπιν.^[2] The tragedians use ἐννέπω (with one ν only in lyrics) as the present that goes with the aorist εἰπεῖν, and give it the further senses ‘to bid someone do something’, ‘to call, name’ and ‘to address’.^[2] Later epic poets made a new present ἐνίσπω from the aorist.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for telling, the Odyssey's first line included.^[2][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for speaking, and the plural imperative ἔσπετε.^[2][4]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho uses the form ἐννέπω.^[2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the present indicative and the sense ‘to bid’.^[2]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it as the present to εἰπεῖν, and Corinna has the Boeotian infinitive ἐνέπιν.^[2]
• 2nd century BC – Nicander uses the new present ἐνίσπω.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tell, tell of, relate.^[2][4][3]
2. (intransitive) To tell news or tales.^[2]
3. To speak.^[2][1]
4. With an accusative and infinitive, to bid someone do something.^[2]
5. To call, name.^[2]
6. To address, accost.^[2]

Related words

• ἐνέπω (enépō)
• ἄσπετος (áspetos)
• θεσπέσιος (thespésios)
• θέσπις (théspis)
• Latin inquam
• Latin inseque

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke