ἔπος

• ϝέπος (wépos) — Aeolic

From earlier ϝέπος (wépos), from Proto-Hellenic *wékʷos, from Proto-Indo-European *wékʷos, from *wekʷ- (“to speak”). Cognates include Sanskrit वचस् (vácas) and Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬗𐬀𐬵- (vacah-).

ἔπος • (épos) n (genitive ἔπεος or ἔπους); third declension

1. something spoken: speech, story, song
   1. one's word, promise
   2. word as opposed to deed
   3. subject
   4. a line of poetry
   5. (when discussing etymology or usage) an individual word
2. (in the plural) epic poetry
3. (the phrase ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, qualifying a hyperbolic statement) so to speak, roughly speaking, almost
4. (the phrase κατ’ ἔπος) word by word

• (something spoken): λόγος (lógos), λέξις (léxis), μῦθος (mûthos) ῥῆμα (rhêma), φράσις (phrásis) φῆμα (phêma), φθέγμα (phthégma)

• (antonym(s) of “word”): ἔργον (érgon, “deed”)
• (antonym(s) of “epic poetry”): μέλη (mélē), ἰαμβεῖα (iambeîa), διθύραμβοι (dithúramboi)

• English: epos
• Russian: э́пос (épos)
• Old Armenian: վէպ (vēp) (possibly)

• “ἔπος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἔπος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἔπος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἔπος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἔπος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ἔπος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2031 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • ballad idem, page 60.
  • line idem, page 492.
  • prediction idem, page 634.
  • prophecy idem, page 653.
  • verse idem, page 948.
  • word idem, page 987.