ἴφθιμος

Probably Pre-Greek. Beekes rejects various previously suggested connections to ἴς (ís, “force”), φθάνω (phthánō, “to come first”), Sanskrit क्षयति (kṣayati, “to overpower”) and τιμή (timḗ, “honour”).

ἴφθῑμος • (íphthīmos) m (feminine ἰφθῑ́μη, neuter ἴφθῑμον); first/second declension or
ἴφθῑμος • (íphthīmos) m or f (neuter ἴφθῑμον); second declension

1. (chiefly Epic) vague epithet of humans, gods, animals, nature: strong, stalwart, or possibly also noble, beautiful, loyal, great^[1][2]

As with many Homeric epithets, this word may not always have a specific or literal meaning in all cases. The lack of any Indo-European etymology adds to the fuzziness. Although it is often used as an epithet for mighty heroes, its frequent use for female humans suggests that its meaning is not exclusively that of heroic strength. In the following example it is clear that some positive moral quality is intended:

But other usages can only be physical. In Odyssey 10.106, Odysseus's men meet a girl who is described as ἰφθίμη:

The meaning here cannot be anything to do with moral nobility, since the girl's mother turns out to be a giant ogress, and her family eat one of the men.

With feminine in -η

With feminine in -ος

• Ἰφθῑ́μη (Iphthī́mē)

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