ἐπάγω

Forms

ἐπάγω (epágō) ^[1] Future ἐπάξω (epáxō), aorist ἐπήγαγον (epḗgagon).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπι- (epi-) + ἄγω (ágō, “to lead, drive”).^[1][3] ἄγω (ágō) is an old thematic present of Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”), cognate with Latin agō and Old Norse aka.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Odyssey it is used of hunters urging their hounds on, and of bringing someone to believe a story.^[3][5] The Odyssey also uses it of bringing on a day.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it of bringing misery upon someone, and of Ouranos bringing on night;^[5][6] the sense “to bring on” something bad, a calamity or a war, stayed common, and in the Septuagint and the New Testament God or men bring evils upon someone.^[5][2][7] In Aeschylus and Herodotus it means to lead an army against an enemy, and to bring in foreign allies.^[5][6] Herodotus uses it for adding intercalary days to the year.^[5]

In argument it meant to lead someone on to what is not yet known; in Aristotle's logic it became the verb of induction, leading from particular cases to the universal.^[5] The related noun ἐπαγωγή (epagōgḗ) is his name for induction.^[1][5]

Medieval Greek used it for “to lead” and “to bring about”.^[8] Modern Greek επάγω (epágo) is a rare learned word for reasoning by induction.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for setting hounds on and for persuading.^[3][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for bringing misery upon men.^[5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for leading on an army and for intercalating days.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for putting a matter to the vote.^[5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for arguing by induction.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for bringing something upon someone.^[2]
• Modern Greek – επάγω (epágo) is a rare learned word for reasoning by induction.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bring on a day, a misfortune, a disease.^[5][6]
2. Of hunters, to set on, urge on hounds.^[5][6]
3. To lead on an army against an enemy.^[5][6]
4. To quicken the pace or the tempo.^[5][6]
5. To lead on by persuasion, induce.^[5]
6. To bring in or call in allies; to bring to a place, supply.^[5][6]
7. To apply a goad or a blow; to impose a penalty.^[5]
8. To put a proposal to the vote.^[5]
9. To add over and above; to intercalate days in the year.^[5]
10. (logic) To argue by induction, from the particular to the universal.^[5]
11. (middle) To bring in for oneself, procure.^[5]

Word family

• ἐπαγωγή (epagōgḗ)

Related words

• ἄγω (ágō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki