ἐπίγραμμα

From ἐπιγράφω (epigráphō, “to mark the surface”) +‎ -μα (-ma).

ἐπίγραμμα • (epígramma) n (genitive ἐπιγράμματος); third declension

1. an inscription, (especially in verse), an epigram
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.59:

     ὁ μὲν δὴ εἷς τῶν τριπόδων ἐπίγραμμα ἔχει “ἀμφιτρύων μ’ ἀνέθηκ’ ἐνάρων ἀπὸ Τηλεβοάων.”

     ho mèn dḕ heîs tôn tripódōn epígramma ékhei “amphitrúōn m’ anéthēk’ enárōn apò Tēleboáōn.”

     On one of the tripods there is this inscription: “Amphitryon dedicated me from the spoils of Teleboae.”

2. a written estimate of damages
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Nausimachus and Xenopeithes 2:

     ὄντες γὰρ δύο τέτταρας εἰλήχασι δίκας ἡμῖν, τῶν αὐτῶν χρημάτων πάσας, τρισχιλίων ἑκάστην, βλάβης: καὶ νυνὶ πρὸς τριάκοντα μνῶν ἐπίγραμμα, ὑπὲρ τοσούτων χρημάτων εἰς ἀγῶνα καθέσταμεν.

     óntes gàr dúo téttaras eilḗkhasi díkas hēmîn, tôn autôn khrēmátōn pásas, triskhilíōn hekástēn, blábēs: kaì nunì pròs triákonta mnôn epígramma, hupèr tosoútōn khrēmátōn eis agôna kathéstamen.

     For there are two of them, and they have entered four suits against us, all for a like amount, each for three thousand drachmae damages; and now on a complaint for thirty minae we are brought to trial for so large a sum

• → Latin: epigramma (see there for further descendants)

• “ἐπίγραμμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἐπίγραμμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers