διαιρέω

Ancient Greek

Etymology

δῐᾰ- (dia-) +‎ αἱρέω (hairéō)

Pronunciation

Verb

δῐαιρέω • (diairéō)

1. to take apart, cleave in twain, divide
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 20.20:

     διὰ δ᾽ ἀμφοτέρους ἕλε κύκλους ἀσπίδος

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.119:

     παῖδα κατὰ μέλεα διελών

     paîda katà mélea dielṓn

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.123:

     δ. λαγόν

     d. lagón

     cut it open

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.110:

     δ. πυλίδα

     d. pulída

     break it open

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.51
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.48:

     δ. τὴν ὀροφήν

     d. tḕn orophḗn

     tear away, pull down

   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 5.2.21:

     τοὺς σταυρούς

     toùs stauroús

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.75:

     δ. τοῦ τείχους

     d. toû teíkhous

     take down part of the wall, make a breach in it

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.76:

     τὸ διῃρημένον

     tò diēirēménon

     the breach

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 5.3
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 556a.18, (of insects):

     διῃρημένοι τὸ ὑπόζωμα

     diēirēménoi tò hupózōma

   • 110 BCE – 35 BCE, Philodemus, On Phenomena and Inferences 1:

     διαιρουμένος τὴν καρδίαν

     diairouménos tḕn kardían

2. to divide
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.94, (compare 4.148):

     δύο μοίρας Λυδῶν

     dúo moíras Ludôn

     the Lydians into two parts

   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Olympiodorus 12:

     δύο μερίδας

     dúo merídas

   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 253c:

     δ. τριχῇ ψυχήν

     d. trikhêi psukhḗn

   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Sens. 440b.5:

     δ. εἰς τὸ ἐλάχιστον

     d. eis tò elákhiston

   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 486a.5, (passive):

     εἰς ὁμοιομερῆ

     eis homoiomerê

   1. (middle voice) divide for themselves; divide among themselves
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.11:

        κατ᾽ ὀλίγας ναῦς διελόμενοι

        distributing their ships in small divisions

      • 314 CE – 393 CE, Libanius, Orations 52.4:

        τοῖς δικάζουσι δ. τὰ ὦτα

        toîs dikázousi d. tà ôta

        lending an ear to both parties

      • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 112:

        τιμάς

        timás

      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.85:

        τὴν ληΐην

        tḕn lēḯēn

      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.19:

        κατὰ πόλεις τὸ ἔργον

        katà póleis tò érgon

      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Stephanus 1 38:

        τἀδικήματα

        tadikḗmata

      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 5.114, (absolute):

        δ. κατὰ πόλεις

        d. katà póleis

   2. (passive voice)
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.75:

        διῃρημένοι κατ᾽ ἀναπαύλας

        divided into relays

      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, The Statesman 261c, (future middle form used in a passive sense):

        διαιρήσομαι

        diairḗsomai

      • 341 BCE, Demosthenes, Fourth Philippic 51:

        διῄρητο τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἰς δύο

        diḗirēto tà tôn Hellḗnōn eis dúo

      1. to break up, opposed to συντιθέναι
         • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 78c
      2. to dispense
         • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 2.73b:

           φάρμακον

           phármakon

3. to distinguish
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1295a.8:

     τυραννίδος εἴδη δύο διείλομεν

     turannídos eídē dúo dieílomen

   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Oeconomicus 7.26:

     δ. πότερα…

     d. pótera…

   • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 742, (absolute)
   1. (middle voice)
      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 182c
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 950c:

        δ. τοὺς ἀμείνους καὶ τοὺς χείρονας

        d. toùs ameínous kaì toùs kheíronas

      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Charmides 163d:

        δ. περί τινος

        d. perí tinos

      1. to determine, decide
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.23:

           διαφορὰς διαιρέοντες

           diaphoràs diairéontes

         • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 472:

           δίκας

           díkas

         • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 488:

           τοῦτο πρᾶγμα

           toûto prâgma

         • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 630:

           ψήφῳ δ. τοῦδε πράγματος πέρι

           psḗphōi d. toûde prágmatos péri

         • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Ways and Means 3.3, (compare Plato, The Republic 571a, Protagoras 314b, and elsewhere in the same author):

           τὰ ἀμφίλογα

           tà amphíloga

         • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 946b:

           κλήρῳ δ. τὸν νικῶντα

           klḗrōi d. tòn nikônta

         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 239b.13:

           δ. περί τινος

           d. perí tinos

         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1300b.18:

           διαιρείσθω πόσα εἴδη

           diaireísthō pósa eídē

         • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 1100, (absolute)
         • 405 BCE, Euripides, The Bacchae 206, (codices):

           δ. εἴτε

           d. eíte

      2. to define expressly
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.16C
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.103
         1. (middle voice, with accusative and infinitive)
            • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.47
      3. (middle voice) to interpret
         • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.60:

           τέρας, δημεῖον

           téras, dēmeîon

         • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 9.6
4. (logic) to divide; divide a genus into its species
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 273e:

     δ. κατ᾽ εἴδη τὰ ὄντα

     d. kat᾽ eídē tà ónta

   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 96b.15, (and elsewhere in the same author)
   1. (middle voice)
      • 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 642b.5
5. (mathematics) to divide
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 895e, (passive)
   • c. 225 BCE, Archimedes, On the Sphere and Cylinder 1.6, (and elsewhere in the same author):

     διελόντι

     dielónti

     dividendo

6. to divide words, punctuate in reading; in the language of the Grammarians, resolve a diphthong or contracted form
   • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, Collected Works 12.17
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Rhetoric 1401a.24, (passive)
   • 50 CE – 250 CE, Apollonius Dyscolus, On Pronouns 38.17, (compare Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, De Natura Deorum 5 and Herodian, Philet. p.456.P.):

     διῃρῆσθαι Ἰακῶς

     diēirêsthai Iakôs

7. to allocate revenues
   • Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae 573.24, (Cilicia)

Conjugation

Quotations

• 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 10.57, (in the sense “separate out”):

  τὰν πολέμοιο δόσιν ἀκρόθινα διελὼν ἔθυε

  tàn polémoio dósin akróthina dielṑn éthue

Further reading

• “διαιρέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “διαιρέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• διαιρέω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• διαιρέω in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “διαιρέω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter