ζητέω

• ζητεύω (zēteúō) — poetic
• ζᾱτεύω (zāteúō) — Doric

Uncertain. Could be from unattested *ζᾱτός (*zātós), from the same root of δίζημαι (dízēmai, “to seek”), Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- (“to go, seek”),^[1] whence ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal”) and ζημία (zēmía, “damage, loss”).

ζητέω • (zētéō)

1. to seek, search after, look for
   • 2022 May 18, Seumas Macdonald, chapter 5, in Linguae Graecae Per Se Illustrata‎:

     ἡ μὲν οὖν Εἰρήνη βάλλει ὑπὲρ τὸν Δημήτριον τὴν σφαῖραν. ὁ δὲ παῖς ἀπέρχεται καὶ ζητεῖ αὐτήν

     hē mèn oûn Eirḗnē bállei hupèr tòn Dēmḗtrion tḕn sphaîran. ho dè paîs apérkhetai kaì zēteî autḗn

     But then Irene threw the ball over Demetrius. So the boy went away seeking the ball.

   • 2022 May 18, Seumas Macdonald, chapter 5, in Linguae Graecae Per Se Illustrata‎:

     οὗτος δὲ εἰς τοὺς ἀγροὺς αὐτοῦ σήμερον πορεύεται. τὶ ἐνθάδε ζητεῖς;

     hoûtos dè eis toùs agroùs autoû sḗmeron poreúetai. tì entháde zēteîs;

     But he is being carried towards his fields today. What are you looking for here?

2. to inquire into, examine, consider
3. to strive for, desire, wish
   • 55 CE – 135 CE, Epictetus, Enchiridion 8:

     Μὴ ζήτει τὰ γινόμενα γίνεσθαι ὡς θέλεις, ἀλλὰ θέλε τὰ γινόμενα ὡς γίνεται καὶ εὐροήσεις.

     Mḕ zḗtei tà ginómena gínesthai hōs théleis, allà théle tà ginómena hōs gínetai kaì euroḗseis.

     Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.

• “ζητέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ζητέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ζητέω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ζητέω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ζητέω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G2212 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • aspire idem, page 45.
  • court idem, page 179.
  • demand idem, page 209.
  • desire idem, page 215.
  • examine idem, page 287.
  • hunt idem, page 410.
  • inquire idem, page 443.
  • investigate idem, page 457.
  • look idem, page 498.
  • make idem, page 508.
  • probe idem, page 643.
  • quest idem, page 665.
  • scrutinise idem, page 743.
  • search idem, page 746.
  • seek idem, page 749.
  • strive idem, page 827.
  • wish idem, page 983.
• “ζητέω”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011