Ancient Greek words first recorded in the 8th century BC

It is a verbal abstract noun from Ancient Greek δείδω (deídō, “to fear”), from an older *δϝεῖος (*dweîos). Wiktionary takes it as the s-stem noun from Proto-Indo-European *dwey- (“to fear”), the…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *dérkomai, from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see, look at”). The perfect δέδορκα (dédorka, “I see”) has the same formation as the perfect of Sanskrit दृश्…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *dérō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear, tear apart”). LIV gives the root the meaning “to tear, shatter” and finds root aorists of it in Vedic…

In Beekes's view it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *de-u-ro (“(to) here”), though he marks the reconstruction with a question. The first part is the demonstrative adverb also found in the…

The origin is uncertain. The usual view, held by Frisk and Chantraine, makes it a comparative in -τερος (-teros) from Ancient Greek δεύομαι (deúomai, “to fall short, lack”), so originally “the one…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *dḗ, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *de. Beekes and Frisk see in it perhaps a case form, an instrumental, of a demonstrative, which would be identical with…

It probably continues *δέαλος (*déalos), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *deih₂-(e)lo-, from the root *deyh₂- (“to shine”). Hesychius' glosses δίαλος (díalos, “clear”) and διάλας (diálas)…

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dis- (“apart, in two”), through a pre-form *δισά (*disá) whose final vowel was added on the model of μετά (metá) and παρά (pará). Chantraine treats…

It is formed from Ancient Greek δια- (dia-, “apart, through”) + γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know, recognise”), like ἀναγιγνώσκω (anagignṓskō, “to read”). The prefix gives the sense of telling things…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because the Mycenaean compound Mycenaean Greek de-ku-tu-wo-ko ‘net-maker’ has -e- where later Greek has -ι-, a variation typical of Pre-Greek words. It was usually…

It is formed from Ancient Greek δίς (dís, “twice”) + -πλόος (-plóos, “-fold”), and it is the counterpart of ἁπλόος (haplóos, “single, simple”). The DGE takes the second element from a root…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *dwís, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice”), from the root of δύο (dúo, “two”). It is formed exactly like Sanskrit द्विस् (dvís), Latin bis (Old…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *dótis (“act of giving; gift”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *déh₃tis (“act of giving”). NIL reconstructs the Greek and Indo-Iranian forms with the zero…

It has no accepted etymology. Beekes thinks it may be Pre-Greek, since the old explanation does not convince him. That explanation, defended by Frisk and the DGE, takes it as originally “tearing…

It is an action noun in -ις from Ancient Greek δύναμαι (dúnamai, “to be able”), formed on the model of θέμις (thémis). The verb is probably a present formed with a nasal infix, and the infix spread…

It continues the Indo-European reflexive pronoun. The older view, given by Frisk, derived the epic forms that show no trace of a digamma (ἑ (he), εὑ (heu), ἕθεν (héthen), οἱ (hoi)) from a reflexive…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *egéřřō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ger- (“to wake up”). The old part of the verb is the perfect ἐγρήγορα (egrḗgora) “I am awake”, which matches the…

Beekes and Frisk call it an iterative-intensive verb, usually connected with Latin cōnor (“to exert oneself, try”), related to it as ποτέομαι (potéomai) is to πωτάομαι (pōtáomai). Chantraine and the…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *egṓ, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵoH (“I”). It matches Latin egō exactly, and Venetic and Germanic have the same form (Old Norse ek); Armenian and…

The origin is uncertain. It may be formed from Ancient Greek ἕδος (hédos, “seat”) + -φος (-phos), with loss of the first aspiration because of the second. The formation is odd, however: ἔδαφος…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *édō (“to eat”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti, of the root *h₁ed- (“to eat”). The old athematic present survives in the epic infinitive and in the future, an…

Beekes, Frisk and Chantraine call its origin uncertain. Schwyzer saw an interjection in Doric αἰ (ai) and partly in εἰ, and Brugmann and Thumb assumed beside it a demonstrative εἰ “then”, also in…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁é-wid-et, an old thematic root aorist of Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, catch sight of”). The augment ⟨ἐ-⟩ contracted with the following syllable…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ewī́kəti, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dwi-dḱm̥t-iH (“twenty”), a dual meaning “two decades”, made of *dwi- (“two”) and the stem of δέκα (déka, “ten”)…

In Beekes's view it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *welu- (“to envelop, cover”). The stem is shown by Hesychius' gloss γέλουτρον (géloutron, “pod”), that is *ϝέλυτρον (*wélutron), which…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁werǵ- (“to shut in, press”). Almost every Greek form goes back to the full grade ϝέργω (wérgō), with a prothetic vowel in Epic ἐέργω (eérgō); the only…

It has no etymology. Its many dialect forms cannot all be traced to one original by sound laws, so they are taken to be loans adapted imperfectly to each dialect, and Beekes and Frisk consider the…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *en-s, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁én (“in”), and is attested as ἐνς (ens) in Cretan and Argive. It stands beside ἐν (en) as ἐξ (ex) stands beside ἐκ (ek), and…

It is formed from Ancient Greek εἰσ- (eis-, “into”) + ἔρχομαι (érkhomai, “to come, go”). For the simple verb Beekes gives two proposals: a root Proto-Indo-European *h₁ergʰ-, compared with an Old…

It is from Ancient Greek εἰς (eis, “into”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way”). Compare ἔξοδος (éxodos, “way out”) and δίοδος (díodos, “passage”). For ὁδός (hodós) Beekes reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *sod-…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *séswōtʰa, an old intransitive perfect of state that serves as a present, “I am accustomed”. It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swe-dʰh₁-, a fusion of the…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *eks, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (“out of”). The form before vowels, ἐξ (ex), is the original one. Exact matches are found in Italic and Celtic…

Probably from a phrase *ἑκὰς τις (*hekàs tis) "each one for himself", from Ancient Greek ἑκάς (hekás, “apart, far off”) and τις (tis, “someone”), as Wackernagel proposed. The genitive *ἑκὰς τεο…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ékeyenos, an expressive word built from several demonstrative elements. The first part is the deictic ἐ- (e-) and the particle *ḱe, also in ἐκεῖ (ekeî, “there”)…

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

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱuros (“father-in-law”), an old kinship term kept in many languages. Cognate with Sanskrit श्वशुर (śváśura), Avestan xvasura, Latin socer, Old High…

It is an old participle, from Ancient Greek *ϝέκμι (*wékmi), a lost present, from Proto-Indo-European *weḱ- (“to wish, want”). It matches the Sanskrit participle of the same verb except in the vowel…

The verb comes from earlier *ϝέλδομαι (*wéldomai), with an initial /w/ that Homer's metre still shows; the commoner epic ἐέλδομαι (eéldomai) is the same verb with a prothetic vowel, from *ἐϝέλδομαι…

The origin is not certain. Beekes reports the view, now mostly accepted, that it is related to Hittite li(n)k- (“to swear”) and Old High German antlingen (“to answer”), and Wiktionary derives it…

It is formed like ἧλιξ (hêlix), χόλιξ (khólix) and δέλφιξ (délphix), probably from a noun that was itself from Ancient Greek εἰλέω (eiléō, “to turn, wind”), from older *ϝελνέω (*welnéō). The DGE…

It is a noun from Ancient Greek ἔλπομαι (élpomai, “to expect, hope”). The verb had an initial digamma, as Homeric metre shows, and an old perfect with present meaning, ἔολπα (éolpa). It goes back to…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐμ- (em-, “in, into”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”). Inscriptions and papyri often spell it with the unassimilated prefix, ⟨ἐνβ-⟩.

A compound, from Ancient Greek ἐν (en) + βρύω (brúō), “in” and “to swell, teem”: the thing that grows within. Beekes lists it among the compounds of this verb, of the type of ἔμπεδος (émpedos) and…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁mós (“my”), a possessive made on the stem of the oblique cases of ἐγώ (egṓ, “I”), accusative ἐμέ (emé). Pokorny places it with the possessive *mo- of…

It is a hypostasis of a phrase meaning “in the ground”, formed from Ancient Greek ἐν (en) + πέδον (pédon, “ground”). Wiktionary instead analyses it as a prefix and the stem of πούς (poús, “foot”)…

It is from Ancient Greek ἐν πόρῳ (en pórōi, “on a journey”), a phrase made into a single word (a hypostasis), meaning “one who is in transit”. Wiktionary analyses it as from Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-)…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁én (“in”), an old adverb that survives as an adverb or a preposition in several branches. Frisk also gives a form *eni, perhaps the same as the locative…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *éndon, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥dóm, an extended form of *h₁n̥dó, in Wiktionary's reconstruction. Beekes sets up *h₁endon (“inside”). The word is…

The origin is disputed. It was a new expression for the year, properly the “anniversary”. Its first part seems to be a word for “year” found in δίενος (díenos, “two years old”) and in Hesychius…

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)…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁énteros (“inner, being inside”), an adjective that Greek turned into a noun in the neuter. Beekes calls it an old word for the intestines, identical with…

It is from Ancient Greek ἐνύπνιος (enúpnios, “seen in sleep”), the neuter of the adjective used as a noun. Beekes explains the adjective as a hypostasis of the phrase “in sleep”, ἐν (en, “in”) with…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hwéks, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs (“six”). Indo-European “six” has two variants: one with w, as in Doric ϝέξ (wéx), Old Armenian վեց (vecʻ), Welsh…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex, “out of”) + ἔρχομαι (érkhomai, “to go, to come”). Like the simple verb it takes its aorist from another stem, ἐξῆλθον (exêlthon), and in Attic its future from…

It is an adverb from Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex, “out of”), formed with the ending -ω (-ō) as εἴσω (eísō) is formed from εἰς (eis) and ἄνω (ánō) from ἀνά (aná). The dialect forms (see Forms) took their…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hewós, from an adjective made from the reflexive Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”). Beekes and Frisk explain this word and the possessive ὅς (hós) as adjectives…

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

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπι- (epi-, “on, upon”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”). Its aorist is ἐπέσχον (epéskhon), and some of its unaugmented aorist forms cannot be told apart from those of…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí) + δῆμος (dêmos, “people, country”) + -ιος (-ios). Chæréphon cites Mycenaean Greek o-pi-da-mi-jo, a plural, under this word.

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπι- (epi-, “upon, over”) + σκοπός (skopós, “watcher, lookout”), “one who watches over”. The second element belongs to the family of σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look…