πωλέω

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Uncertain. Could be from a Proto-Indo-European *pel-, *pl̥n-, with cognates including Sanskrit पणते (páṇate, “to barter, negotiate”), Lithuanian pelnas and Old Norse falr. However, could also be related to ἐμπολή (empolḗ, “trade, purchase”) or πέλω (pélō, “I move, am”).

Pronunciation

Verb

πωλέω • (pōléō)

1. to sell
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 722
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, Fragments 543
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Trierarchic Crown 22
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Reply to Philip 18
   • 540 BCE – 450 BCE, Epicharmus, Collected Works 287
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.139
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.105
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.80
   • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Fr. 50
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 741b
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, The Statesman 260d
   • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 9.6.4
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.60
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hiero 1.13
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.2.36
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.6.13
   • Palatine Anthology 11.3
   1. Ι levy taxes
      • 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Against Timarchus 119
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians 47.2
   2. to sell an office
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians 62.1
   3. to betray
      • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 633
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Theocrines 35
      • 343 BCE, Demosthenes, On the False Embassy 141
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Halonnesus 17

Inflection

Suppletive forms from ἀποδίδομαι (apodídomai), usual in Attic prose:

Synonyms

• ἀποδίδομαι (apodídomai)
• πιπράσκω (pipráskō)
• πέρνημι (pérnēmi)

Antonyms

• ὠνέομαι (ōnéomai, “I buy”)

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Greek: πωλώ (poló, “to sell”), πουλάω (pouláo, “to sell”), πουλώ (pouló, “to sell”)
• Mariupol Greek: пулу́ (pulú)

References

• “πωλέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πωλέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πωλέω 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
• G4453 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• 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
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • sell idem, page 751.
  • trade idem, page 885.
• “πωλέω”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, 2011