κάμπτω

• γνάμπτω (gnámptō) — Homeric, only in compounds in tmesis
• καμπύλλω (kampúllō) — Ionic

From Proto-Hellenic *kámptō, *kamptos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp- (“to bend, curve”), possibly related to Latin campus and Lithuanian kampas, kumpas. Beekes argues for a Pre-Greek or European substrate origin for the root.^[1] Compare Latin cambiāre, Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Spanish cambiar, Occitan cambiar, Catalan canviar, Norman changier, Sicilian cangiari, French changer, and English change.

κάμπτω • (kámptō)

1. to bend, curve
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.486:

     ὄφρα ἴτυν κάμψῃ περικαλλέϊ δίφρῳ

     óphra ítun kámpsēi perikalléï díphrōi

     in order that he might bend himself a felloe for a beauteous chariot

   1. (figuratively)
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 2.51:

        θεός, ὃ καὶ ὑψιφρόνων τιν’ ἔκαμψε βροτῶν

        theós, hò […] kaì hupsiphrónōn tin’ ékampse brotôn

        the gods, who bend down many a man who is overly ambitious

      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 173b:

        τρεπόμενοι πολλὰ κάμπτονται καὶ συγκλῶνται

        trepómenoi pollà kámptontai kaì sunklôntai

        so that they become greatly bent and stunted

2. (transitive, intransitive) to turn
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 744:

     ἔπειτα λύων ἡνίαν ἀριστερὰν κάμπτοντος ἵππου

     épeita lúōn hēnían aristeràn kámptontos híppou

     But then he slackened his left rein while the horse was turning

   1. (figuratively)
      • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 91:

        ἐνταῦθα κάμψειν τὸν ταλαίπωρον βίον

        entaûtha kámpsein tòn talaípōron bíon

        there I should close my weary life

      • 423 BCE, Euripides, The Suppliants 748:

        ἔχουσαι διὰ λόγου κάμψαι κακά

        ékhousai dià lógou kámpsai kaká

        though you might by parley end your ills

      • 5th century BC, Pherecrates, Fragmenta 145.15
3. (nautical) to double (sail around)
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.42.4:

     τρίτῳ ἔτεϊ κάμψαντες Ἡρακλέας στήλας ἀπίκοντο ἐς Αἴγυπτον

     trítōi éteï kámpsantes Hērakléas stḗlas apíkonto es Aígupton

     it was in the third that they doubled the pillars of Heracles and came to Egypt

• “κάμπτω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κάμπτω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “κάμπτω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• κάμπτω 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
• κάμπτω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “κάμπτω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2578 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

From Ancient Greek κάμπτω

• IPA^(key): /ˈkam.pto/, /ˈkam.to/
• Hyphenation: κάμ‧πτω

κάμπτω • (kámpto) (past έκαμψα, passive κάμπτομαι)

1. (transitive) to bend, to curve
2. (transitive, figuratively) to bend, to cause to yield (to force to submit)

• λυγίζω (lygízo)

• άκαμπτος (ákamptos, “inflexible, rigid”)
• ακαμψία f (akampsía, “rigidity”)
• δύσκαμπτος (dýskamptos)
• δυσκαμψία f (dyskampsía)
• εύκαμπτος (éfkamptos)
• ευκαμψία f (efkampsía)
• καμπτήρας (kamptíras)
• καμπύλος (kampýlos)
• καμπύλη f (kampýli, “curve”)
• καμπυλώνω (kampylóno, “to curve”)
• καμπυλωτός (kampylotós)
• κάμψη f (kámpsi)
• κεκαμμένος (kekamménos, “curved”, learned participle)
• οσφυοκάμπτης m (osfyokámptis)
• παρακαμπτήριος (parakamptírios)

Verb-compounds (and see their derivatives)

• ανακάμπτω (anakámpto, “reappear, recover”)
• επανακάμπτω (epanakámpto, “return, reappear again”)
• παρακάμπτω (parakámpto, “bypass, override”)