πείρω

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *per-. Cognates include Old Armenian հերիւն (heriwn), Old Church Slavonic на-перѫ (na-perǫ, “pierce”), Sanskrit पिपर्ति (piparti, “to bring over to, deliver”), Old English faru (English fare), and Albanian shpie.

Pronunciation

Verb

πείρω • (peírō)

1. to pierce, run through
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.245–246:

     ὣς φάτο Πηλεΐδης, ποτὶ δὲ σκῆπτρον βάλε γαίῃ
     χρυσείοις ἥλοισι πεπαρμένον, ἕζετο δ' αὐτός·

     hṑs pháto Pēleḯdēs, potì dè skêptron bále gaíēi
     khruseíois hḗloisi peparménon, hézeto d' autós;

     Thus spoke the son of Peleus, and against the earth he dashed the sceptre,
     pierced by golden nails, and himself sat down:

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.465
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.399
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 7.317
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.633
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.405
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 20.479
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 21.577
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.33
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 10.124
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 205
   • 680 BCE – 645 BCE, Archilochus, Collected Works 84
   • 300 BCE – 250 BCE, Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1067
   • 64 BCE – 24 CE, Strabo, Geography 13.1.38
   • 50 CE – 150 CE, Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon 3.4
   • 110 CE – 180 CE, Pausanias Periegeta, Graeciae Descriptio 4.17.1
2. (figuratively) to cleave through
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.8
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 2.434
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 8.183
   • 300 BCE – 250 BCE, Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.326

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

• περόνη (perónē)
• πορθμός (porthmós)
• πόρος (póros)
• πόρπη (pórpē)
• πρίων (príōn)

References

• “πείρω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πείρω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πείρω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πείρω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• πείρω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963