STEP Liddell–Scott–Jones: ὦ

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oh!

ὦ

and ὤ, an exclamation, expressing surprise, joy, or pain, O! oh! with nominative, ὢ τάλας ἐγώ [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Ajax” 981, etc.; ὢ ἔβενος, ὢ χρυσός 3rd c.BC: Theocritus Poeta Bucolicus 15.123 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]: also with genitive, ὢ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας [[ 2nd c.AD: Lucianus Sophista “Pisc.” 5 ] Refs 2nd c.AD+]; with interrogative, ὤ, τί λέγει; [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Protagoras” 309d ] Refs]; in the middle of a sentence, [[ 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Hippolytus” 362 (Lyric poetry), +others ] Refs 5th c.BC+]

__II with vocative, a mode of address, whether at the beginning of a sentence or in a parenthesis, ὦ Ἀχιλεῦ [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 1.74, etc., especially in dialogue and Oratt., ἐβουλόμην, ὦ ἄνδρες, τὴν δύναμιν κτλ. Antipho. 5.1 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; in invocations of the gods, ὦ Ζεῦ τε καὶ Γῆ καὶ πολισσοῦχοι θεοί [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Septem contra Thebas” 69, etc.; with _imperative_, ὦ χαῖρε [prev. author] “Ag.” 22, 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Ajax” 91 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὦ πρὸς θεῶν ὕπεικε [[[prev. work] 371, compare 4th c.BC: Demosthenes Orator 21.98 ] Refs 4th c.BC+]: sometimes following the Verb, [[ 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Troades” 335 (Lyric poetry)] Refs 5th c.BC+]; in different number from the vocative, προσέλθετ᾽, ὦ παῖ, πατρί [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Coloneus” 1104, compare 1112, Scholia 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Plutus” 66. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]

__II.2 with nominative instead of vocative, ὦ δῐος αἰθήρ, ὦ φίλος, [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Prometheus Vinctus” 88, 545; ὦ γενναῖος 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Phaedrus” 227c; ὦ οὗτος Αἴας 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Ajax” 89; ὦ οὗτος οὗτος Οἰδίπους [prev. author] “OC” 1627 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; also οὗτος, ὦ σέ τοι (i.e. καλῶ) [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Aves” 274. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]

Browse lexicon entries

__II.4 with the latter of two nouns, Ἀγάμεμνον, ὦ Μενέλαε [[ [prev. author] “Ph.” 794 ] Refs].—In the first sense usually written ὤ, in the second ὦ: [τὸ ὢ] ἡνίκα θαυμαστικὸν λαμβάνεται βαρύνεται, καὶ χωρεῐ εἰς ἐπιρρηματικὴν σύνταξιν, οἷον ὢ Ἡρακλῆς [[ “Etymologicum Magnum” 79.13: 13th-14th c.AD: Thomas Magister Grammaticus p.408R. prescribes ὢ with the _genitive_, but ὦ with the _vocative_, e.g. ὦ Ἡράκλεις, where the whole expression, and not merely the ὤ ] Refs] (ὦ,) expresses surprise (but [[ 2nd c.AD: Apollonius Dyscolus Grammaticus “de Adverbiis;” 127.24 ] Refs 2nd c.AD+] seems to imply ὦ in both senses); ὤ as an exclamation is found in forms like{ὤ μοι}, ὤ μοι ἐγώ, ὢ πρὸς τῶν θεῶν [[ 4th c.BC: Demosthenes Orator [same place]: but ὦ πόποι δυσὶ τόνοις χρῆται Hdn.Gr. 1.503, so that ὢ πόποι] Refs 4th c.BC+] is improbable,compare [[ 9th c.AD: Theognostus Grammaticus “Can.” 158 (as emended by Lehrs “Aristarch.” 3p.119)] Refs 9th c.AD+]; ᾤμοι and ὤμοι are both recognized by [[ “Etymologicum Magnum” 822.33, compare “Legal icon Messanense” p.413; ωιμ᾽ 7th-6th c.BC: Sappho Lyrica “Papyrus fragments” in E. Diehl, 23.4; in 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus, when it stands in the middle of a sentence, it should be written ὤ, “Hipp.” 362, +others: sometimes doubled, ὢ ὢ κακά 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Agamemnon” 1214; ἰὼ ὢ ὤ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Coloneus” 224 (variant{ὣ ὣ ὣ})] Refs 7th c.BC+]; written ὼ ώ in Papyrus of [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Ichn.” 61; tripled, ὢ ὢ ὤ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Persae” 985 (Lyric poetry, probably)] Refs 5th c.BC+]. To those who (like [[ 2nd c.BC: Dionysius Thrax Grammaticus 640.11, cf. Scholia 2nd c.BC: Dionysius Thrax Grammaticus p.257H.) took ὦ] Refs 2nd c.BC+] for the vocative of the Article ὁ, [[ 2nd c.AD: Apollonius Dyscolus Grammaticus “de Syntaxi;” 45.22 - 53 ] Refs 2nd c.AD+] replies at length.