ἐπιλαμβάνω

• ἐπῐλάζῠμαι (epilázumai)

From ἐπῐ- (epi-, “upon”) +‎ λᾰμβᾰ́νω (lambánō, “to take, receive”).

ἐπῐλᾰμβᾰ́νω • (epilambánō)

1. to take or get besides
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1259a.28:

     ἀλλ’ ὅμως ἐπὶ τοῖς πεντήκοντα ταλάντοις ἐπέλαβεν ἑκατόν

     all’ hómōs epì toîs pentḗkonta talántois epélaben hekatón

     but all the same he took a hundred talents besides his capital of fifty

   1. to take, receive
2. to lay hold of, seize, attack
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.115.3:

     ἐπιλαβὼν δὲ λοιμός τε τὸν στρατὸν καὶ δυσεντερίη κατ’ ὁδὸν ἔφθειρε.

     epilabṑn dè loimós te tòn stratòn kaì dusenteríē kat’ hodòn éphtheire.

     Moreover, pestilence and dysentry laid hold of them among their way, from which they died.

   1. (of events) to overtake, surprise; to befall
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.27.1:

        καὶ ἐδεδοίκεσαν μὴ σφῶν χειμὼν τὴν φυλακὴν ἐπιλάβοι

        kaì ededoíkesan mḕ sphôn kheimṑn tḕn phulakḕn epiláboi

        and feared lest winter should overtake them in their siege

   2. to reach
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 6.5.6:

        ἔθαπτον τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὁπόσους ἐπελάμβανεν ἡ στρατιά

        éthapton tòn autòn trópon hopósous epelámbanen hē stratiá

        and then in the same way they buried all that the army reached

   3. to seize, stop
      • 388 BCE, Aristophanes, Plutus 703:

        τὴν ῥῖν’ ἐπιλαβοῦσ’

        tḕn rhîn’ epilaboûs’

        stopping her nose

   4. to occupy
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 779c:

        καὶ ὅπως ἰδιώτης μηδεὶς μηδὲν τῶν τῆς πόλεως ἐπιλήψεται

        kaì hópōs idiṓtēs mēdeìs mēdèn tôn tês póleōs […] epilḗpsetai

        and prevent any private person from encroaching on State property

   5. (with genitive) to undertake
      • 175 CE – 235 CE, Claudius Aelianus, On the Nature of Animals 5.18
      • 175 CE – 235 CE, Claudius Aelianus, On the Nature of Animals 13.19
   6. (intransitive) to succeed, follow
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Problems 860a.7
3. (middle voice, with genitive) to hold on by, lay hold of, catch at
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.113.2:

     καὶ ἐπελαμβάνοντο τῶν νεῶν

     kaì epelambánonto tôn neôn

     and laid hold of the ships

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.114:

     ἐπιλαμβανόμενος τῶν ἀφλάστων νεός, τὴν χεῖρα ἀποκοπεὶς πελέκεϊ πίπτει

     epilambanómenos tôn aphlástōn neós, tḕn kheîra apokopeìs pelékeï píptei

     his hand cut off with an ax as he held on by the ship's figurehead

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.91.2:

     ἐπιλαμβανόμενος δὲ τῶν ἐπισπαστήρων εἴχετο

     epilambanómenos dè tôn epispastḗrōn eíkheto

     he laid hold of the door handles and clung to them

   1. to attack
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 4.2.22:

        ἐπελάβοντο δὲ καὶ Κορινθίων ἀναχωρούντων.

        epelábonto dè kaì Korinthíōn anakhōroúntōn.

        The Lacedaemonians also attacked the Corinthians as they were returning.

   2. to arrest, seize
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Apatourius 9:

        ὁ Παρμένων ἐξαγομένων τῶν παίδων ἐπιλαμβάνεται

        ho Parménōn exagoménōn tôn paídōn epilambánetai

        Parmeno seized the slaves as they were being taken away

      • New Testament, Acts of the Apostles 17:19:

        ἐπιλαβόμενοί τε αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄρειον πάγον ἤγαγον...

        epilabómenoí te autoû epì tòn Áreion págon ḗgagon...

        "So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus..." (NRSV)

   3. to get hold of, obtain
      • 484 BCE – 425 BCE, Herodotus, 1 127.1:

        μέν νυν προστάτεω ἐπιλαβόμενοι ἄσμενοὶ ἐλευθεροῦντο

        mén nun prostáteō epilabómenoi ásmenoì eleutheroûnto

        and now having got a champion they were glad to win their freedom

   4. to reach (a place)
      • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Mark Antony 41:

        ἐκέλευε φεύγειν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῶν ὀρῶν ἐπιλαβόμενον

        ekéleue pheúgein en dexiâi tôn orôn epilabómenon

        and urged him in his flight to keep close to the hills upon his right

   5. to touch on
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 449d:

        ἐπειδὴ ἄλλης ἐπιλαμβάνῃ πολιτείας

        epeidḕ állēs epilambánēi politeías

        since you are beginning on another constitution

   6. to interrupt
      • 385 BCE – 380 BCE, Plato, Symposium 214e.μεταξὺ ἐπιλαβοῦ, ἂν βούλῃ:

        have the goodness to interrupt me

      1. to object to
         • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 2.1.32:

           ὅτι μόνος ἐπελάβετο ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ψηφίσματος

           hóti mónos epelábeto en têi ekklēsíāi […] psēphísmatos

           because he was the one man who in the Athenian assembly had opposed the decree

• ἀντεπῐλαμβᾰ́νομαι (antepilambánomai)
• προσεπῐλαμβᾰ́νω (prosepilambánō)
• σῠνεπῐλαμβᾰ́νω (sunepilambánō)

• “ἐπιλαμβάνω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἐπιλαμβάνω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἐπιλαμβάνω 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
• G1949 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible