STEP Liddell–Scott–Jones: ἦ

Study List and notes

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Gloss

surely

ἦ,

adverb, never in the form ἦε (ἠέ):

__I TO CONFIRM an assertion, in truth, of a surety, ἦ ὀλίγον οἷ παῖδα ἐοικότα γείνατο Τυδεύς [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 5.800, etc.; ironically, 1.229, +others] Refs 8th c.BC+]; with concessive force, it is true that.. : hence, although.. , ἦ καὶ γένει ὕστερος ἦεν [[ 3.215 ] Refs]: frequently strengthened by the addition of one or two other Particles, as ἦ ἄρα [[ 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 24.193; ἦ ἄρα δή 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 13.446; ἦ ῥα 4.82; ἦ ῥά νυ 6.215; ἦ γάρ 1.78; ἦ γάρ τοι 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 16.199; ἦ δή 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.272; ἦ δή που 21.583; ἦ δῆτα 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Tyrannus” 429; ἦ θην 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 20.452; ἦ κάρτα 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Electra” 1279; ἦ μάλα 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 3.204; ἦ μάλα δή 5.422 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἦ μήν and ἦ μέν (see. below); ἦ νυ [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 22.11; ἦ τάχα 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 18.73; ἦ τε 13.211: and to express doubt, ἦ που, see at {ἦ που} and ποῦ: especially ἦ μήν] Refs 8th c.BC+] used in oaths and asseverations, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.291, 7.393, 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Prometheus Vinctus” 73, 168, etc.; also ἦ μάν 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.370, 13.354, 7th-6th c.BC: Sappho Lyrica “Papyrus fragments” in E. Diehl, 23.5; ἦ μέν 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 10.65 (later εἶ μήν, see at {εἷ})] Refs 8th c.BC+]: with infinitive in indirect speech, after Verbs of swearing, etc., σὺ δὲ σύνθεο, καί μοι ὄμοσσον, ἦ μέν μοι πρόφρων ἔπεσιν καὶ χερσὶν ἀρήξειν [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 1.77 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἦ μέν also in Ionic dialect historical Prose, [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 4.154, 5.93, +others; ἐγγυᾶσθαι, ἦ μὴν παραμενεῖν 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Phaedo” 115d ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐγγυητὰς καταστῆσαι ἦ μὴν ἐκτείσειν Legal cited in [[ 4th c.BC: Demosthenes Orator 24.39 ] Refs 4th c.BC+]: with other Particles, ἦ μὲν δή [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.798, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 18.257, +others; ἦ δὴ μάν 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 17.538. ] Refs 8th c.BC+]

Browse lexicon entries

__II.1.b not epexegetic of a preceding question, ἦ σύ γ᾽ Ὀδυσσεύς ἐσσι πολύτροπο; art thou the wily Odysseus? [[ 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 10.330, compare 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 11.666, 15.504 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἦ οὐκ ὀτρύνοντος ἀκούετε.. Ἕκτορο; do you not hear.[[.? [prev. work] 506, compare 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 16.424 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἦ τὸ πλοῖον ἀφῖκτα; [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Crito” 43c ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἦ οὐ δοκεῖ καὶ σοὶ οὕτ; don't you think so too? [[ [prev. author] “Grg.” 479b (_perispomenon_, codex T); ἦ βούλει συλλογισώμεθα αὐτ; shall we work them (the consequences) out? [prev. work] 479c (_perispomenon_, codex T)] Refs]; ἦ τορῶς λέγ; [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Agamemnon” 269 ] Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἦ κἀν δόμοισι τυγχάνει τανῦν παρώ; [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Tyrannus” 757: frequently with other Particles, ἦ ἄρ..; 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 20.166, 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 19.56; mostly ἦ ῥα..; 5.421, 762, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 4.632 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; also in Trag. (in Lyric poetry), [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Persae” 633, 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Ajax” 172, 955 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]: especially to mark the first of several questions, [[ 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “I.” 7(6).3 ] Refs 5th c.BC+] ff.; ἦ ἄρα δή..; [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 13.446; ἦ ῥά νυ..; 4.93; ἦ νυ..; 15.128 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἦ ταῦτα δή..; [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Philoctetes” 565, “El.” 385 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἦ ταῦτα δῆτα..; [[ [prev. author] “OT” 429 ] Refs]; ἦ γάρ..; [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Prometheus Vinctus” 745, 757, 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Tyrannus” 1000: in _Attic dialect_ Prose, ἦ γάρ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; standing alone, is it not so? [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Theaetetus” 160e, “Grg.” 449d, 468d ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἦ καί..; [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Agamemnon” 1207, 1362:] Refs 4th c.BC+] —ἦ usually begins the sentence, except that the vocative may precede, as in [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 5.421, 762, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 4.632, 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Coloneus” 863, 1102, or ἀλλά, as in 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Agamemnon” 276, “Ch.” 774:] Refs 8th c.BC+] —by Crasis ἦ combines with ἄρα in _Attic dialect_ and the κοινή to ἆρα (which see), in all other dialects [[compare (2nd c.AD: Apollonius Dyscolus Grammaticus “de Conjunctionibus;” 223.24) to ἦρα (which see), but ἆρα is found in 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “P.” 4.78 (ἄρα codices), +others, 7th c.BC: Archilochus Lyricus 86, 89. ] Refs 7th c.BC+]