οἶκος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ϝοῖκος (woîkos)
• ͷοῖκυ (voîku) — Pamphylian

Etymology

From ϝοῖκος (woîkos), from Proto-Hellenic *wóikos, from Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- (“to enter, settle; settlement, homestead, village”). Cognates include Mycenaean Greek 𐀺𐀒 (wo-ko /⁠wojkos⁠/, “home”), Latin vīcus (whence English wick (“village”)), Proto-Slavic *vьsь (“village”), Sanskrit विश् (viś) and वेश (veśa), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃, and Albanian vis.

Pronunciation

• • (ancient)

    (file)

Noun

οἶκος • (oîkos) m (genitive οἴκου); second declension

1. dwelling place, settlement, house
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.471:

     γέρων δ’ ἰθὺς κίεν οἴκου

     gérōn d’ ithùs kíen oíkou

     but the old man went straight toward the house

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 23.7:

     ἦλθ’ Ὀδυσεὺς καὶ οἶκον ἱκάνεται

     êlth’ Oduseùs kaì oîkon hikánetai

     Odysseus is here, and has come home

2. room, chamber
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.356:

     ἀλλ’ εἰς οἶκον ἰοῦσα τὰ σ’ αὐτῆς ἔργα κόμιζε

     all’ eis oîkon ioûsa tà s’ autês érga kómize

     But go to thy chamber, and busy thyself with thine own tasks

3. meeting tent, meeting house, hall, monument
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.143
   • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 1373
   • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 600
   • 70 CE – 110 CE, The Gospel of Matthew 21:13
   • 36 BCE – 30 BCE, Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library 1.51
4. birdcage
   • 36 BCE – 30 BCE, Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library 13.82
   • 175 CE – 235 CE, Claudius Aelianus, On the Nature of Animals 12.7
   • 120 CE – 175 CE, Vettius Valens, Anthology 7.25
   • 300 CE – 500 CE, Book of Sothis 2.141
   • 1115 – 1195, Eustathius of Thessalonica, Collected Works 162.2
5. estate, inheritance
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 2.64:

     οὐδ’ ἔτι καλῶς οἶκος ἐμὸς διόλωλε

     oud’ éti kalôs oîkos emòs diólōle

     and past all that is seemly has my estate been destroyed

6. reigning family
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.31.4:

     σὺ ἐς οἶκον τὸν βασιλέος ἐξηγητὴς γίνεαι πρηγμάτων ἀγαθῶν

     sù es oîkon tòn basiléos exēgētḕs gíneai prēgmátōn agathôn

     This plan which you set forth is profitable for the king's house

Inflection

Synonyms

• Synonyms: τέμενος (témenos), δόμος (dómos)

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Greek: οίκος (oíkos)

Further reading

• “οἶκος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “οἶκος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “οἶκος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• οἶκος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• οἶκος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “οἶκος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3624 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• οἶκος in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • abode idem, page 2.
  • apartment idem, page 33.
  • cabinet idem, page 108.
  • chamber idem, page 123.
  • domicile idem, page 247.
  • dwelling idem, page 257.
  • establishment idem, page 283.
  • estate idem, page 283.
  • family idem, page 305.
  • govern idem, page 367.
  • habitation idem, page 380.
  • home idem, page 403.
  • house idem, page 408.
  • household idem, page 408.
  • residence idem, page 701.
  • room idem, page 721.
  • saloon idem, page 732.
• BDAG
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN