γέφῡρα
(Boeotian dialect βέφυρα [[ 5th c.BC: Strattis Comicus 47.5)] Refs 5th c.BC+], Laconian dialect δίφουρα [[ 5th c.AD(?): Hesychius Legal icographus ] Refs 5th c.AD+], Cretan dialect δέφυρα [[ “GDI” 5000 ii Ab 6 (from Gortyn), ἡ (used by 8th c.BC: Homerus Epicus only in 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad”, always in _plural_)] Refs 8th c.BC+]:—dyke, dam, ποταμῷ πλήθοντι ἐοικὼς χειμάρρῳ, ὅς τ᾽ ὦκα ῥέων ἐκέδασσε γεφύρας· τὸν δ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἄρ τε γέφυραι ἐεργμέναι ἰσχανόωσι [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 5.88 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; compare γεφυρόω: metaphorically, πολέμοιο γέφυραι, explained by [[Scholia 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” as αἱ δίοδοι τῶν φαλάγγων] Refs 8th c.BC+], i. e. the open space between hostile armies, but more probably limits of the battlefield, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 4.371, 11.160, etc.] Refs 8th c.BC+]; πόντου γ. of the Isthmus of Corinth, causeway through the sea, [[ 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “N.” 6.39, compare “I.” 4(3).20 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; so, of the causeway between Athens and Eleusis, [[ “Carmina Popularia” 9; at the Euripus, 1st c.BC-1st c.AD: Strabo Geographus 9.2.2. ] Refs 1st c.BC+]
__II after [[ 8th c.BC: Homerus Epicus ] Refs 8th c.BC+], in singular, bridge, γέφυραν ζευγνύναι [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 4.97, compare 1.75 (_plural_); γ. γαῖν δυοῖν ζευκτηρίαν 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Persae” 736; γ. λῦσαι 5th-6th c.BC: Xenophon Historicus “Anabasis” 2.4.17; πόρον ὑπὲρ γεφυρῶν ἄγοντες 4th c.AD: Libanius Sophista “Orationes” 11.243 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; also, of a tunnel, ὑποστείχει γ. [[ 2nd-3rd c.AD: Philostratus Sophista “Vita Apollonii” 1.25. ] Refs 2nd c.AD+]