πέμπω

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unclear. Possibly Pre-Greek.

Pronunciation

Verb

πέμπω • (pémpō)

1. to send, dispatch
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.116:

     Ἕκτωρ δὲ προτὶ ἄστυ δύω κήρυκας ἔπεμπε

     Héktōr dè protì ástu dúō kḗrukas épempe

     And Hector dispatched two heralds to the city.

   • 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 34
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 739
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.15
   • 480 BCE – 406 BCE, Euripides, Fragments 506
   • 413 BCE, Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1308
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.129
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.9.25
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Epistles 310d
   • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, 2 Esdras 4.14
   1. (with accusative of place)
      • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1770:

        Θήβας δ' ἡμᾶς / τὰς ὠγυγίους πέμψον

        Thḗbas d' hēmâs / tàs ōgugíous pémpson

        Dispatch us to Ogygian Thebes

      • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 761
   2. (with adverbs)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.445:

        αἴ κε ζὼν πέμψῃς Σαρπηδόνα ὃνδε δόμονδε, (...)

        aí ke zṑn pémpsēis Sarpēdóna hònde dómonde, (...)

        If you send Sarpedon to his house alive, (...)

      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 18.452
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.461
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 19.281
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 24.418
   3. (with infinitive of purpose)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.575–576:

        οἱ δ’ ἅμ’ Ἀχιλλῆϊ ῥηξήνορι πέμπον ἕπεσθαι
        Ἴλιον εἰς εὔπωλον

        hoi d’ hám’ Akhillêï rhēxḗnori pémpon hépesthai
        Ílion eis eúpōlon

        They dispatched alongside Achilles, breaker of ranks, to accompany
        to Ilion, abounding in foals

      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.8
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 14.396
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 24.419
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 406
   4. to nominate
2. to send forth; to dismiss
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.780
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.5
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.227
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 15.74
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 23.315
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1518
   1. to discharge, shoot
      • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 716
      • 470 BCE, Aeschylus, The Suppliants 1005
      • 346 CE – c. 414 CE, Eunapius, Lives of the Sophists 495B
   2. (of words) to utter
      • 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 443
      • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 846
      • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1445
3. to conduct, escort
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.390
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.203
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 12
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 571
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 133
   1. (with πομπήν (pompḗn)) to conduct or take part in (a procession)
      • 458 BCE, Euripides, Electra 434
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.49
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.56
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.56
      • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Against Agoratus 80
      • 391 BCE, Aristophanes, Assemblywomen 757
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.3.12
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, First Philippic 26
      • 342 BCE – 290 BCE, Menander 494
      • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus 32
      • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Demetrius 12
      • 170 CE – 250 CE, Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4.22
4. to send as a gift
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.623
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 16.83
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1429
   • 484 BCE – 425 BCE, Herodotus, 7 106
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 3.1.42
5. to produce
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1162
6. (middle voice) to send for
   • 424 BCE, Euripides, Hecuba 977
   • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 602
7. (middle voice) to send in one's service; to cause to be sent
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 556
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Toxaris 14

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “πέμπω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πέμπω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πέμπω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πέμπω 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
• πέμπω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πέμπω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3992 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πέμπω.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpem.bo/
• Hyphenation: πέ‧μπω
• Hyphenation: πέμ‧πω

Verb

πέμπω • (pémpo) active (past έπεμψα, passive πέμπομαι)

1. (formal) to send

   Synonym: στέλνω (stélno)

Usage notes

• Ancient verb, chiefly found in compounds.

Conjugation

Related terms

Compounds (& see their derivatives)

• αναπέμπω (anapémpo, “remit”)
• αποπέμπω (apopémpo, “expel”)
• εκπέμπω (ekpémpo, “transmit, broadcast, emit”)
• επανεκπέμπω (epanekpémpo, “transmit again”)
• παραπέμπω (parapémpo, “refer”)

Other:

• αποδιοπομπαίος (apodiopompaíos, “outcast”)
• αυτοκινητοπομπή f (aftokinitopompí)
• διαπόμπευση f (diapómpefsi)
• διαπομπεύω (diapompévo)
• εφοδιοπομπή f (efodiopompí)
• θερμοπομπός m (thermopompós)
• νεκροπομπός m (nekropompós)
• νηοπομπή f (niopompí)
• πόμπευμα n (pómpevma)
• πομπεύω (pompévo)
• πομπή f (pompí, “procession”)
• πομπικός (pompikós)
• πομποδέκτης m (pompodéktis)
• πομπός m (pompós, “transmitter”)
• πομπώδης (pompódis)
• προπομπός m (propompós, “forerunner”)
• ραδιοπομπός m (radiopompós)
• ψυχοπομπός m (psychopompós, “soul-guiding”)
• θεόπεμπτος (theópemptos, “godsent”)
• ουρανόπεμπτος (ouranópemptos)