ἵεμαι

Forms

ῑ̔́εμαι (híemai), present and imperfect only; future εἴσομαι (eísomai), aorist (ἐ)είσατο.^[1][2][3] Homeric metre shows that it began with a digamma, *ϝῑ́εμαι.^[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to strive for, go after”), in LIV's analysis an athematic present with i-reduplication, *wi-wéyh₁-.^[5][1] Beekes and Frisk relate it to Sanskrit वेति (véti, “pursues, drives”), Lithuanian vejù (“to hunt, pursue”) and probably Latin vīs (“you want”) and invītus (“unwilling”).^[1][2][4]

The verb should begin with w-, but after the digamma was lost it fell together with the middle of ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”), “to throw oneself”, and took its rough breathing from it.^[4][1] Beekes notes two views of the form: an old athematic formation, or, with Harðarson, a contracted reduplicated stem.^[1][2] LSJ and the Cambridge Greek Lexicon accordingly treat it as the middle of that verb.^[6][7] Chantraine mentions Laroche's comparison with Hittite ḫuwai- (“to run, hasten”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a word of epic and poetic Greek from the Iliad on, usually in the participle, of warriors and animals pressing forward or straining towards a goal.^[1][2][8] Homer also uses it of the mind, with an infinitive (“he was eager to hit him”) or a genitive (“longing for victory”, “for the city”).^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Tragedy kept the epic use: Sophocles has “we hastened” of men who have seen a sight, and Euripides a man bound for another land.^[6][8] Prose writers use it too: Herodotus of rushing towards a voice and of a charge at a run against the barbarians.^[6] In Plato the participle describes a stream that rushes as it flows.^[6]

Hesychius glosses it with verbs for “be eager”, “want” and “set off”.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of pressing forward and of longing for victory.^[6][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of rushing towards a sound and of a charge.^[6]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it of hastening and longing.^[6][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the participle of rushing water.^[6]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as “I am eager, I want, I set off”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hasten, press forward, go towards a place.^[6][1][8]
2. To be eager to do something, with an infinitive.^[6][8]
3. To long for, be set on something, with a genitive.^[6][8][3]

Related words

• ἵημι (híēmi)
• εἴσομαι (eísomai)
• ἰωκή (iōkḗ)
• οἶμος (oîmos)
• Latin invītus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
2. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Woordenboek Grieks/Nederlands (2012–), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, https://woordenboekgrieks.nl
9. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)