ὀλίγος

See also: ολίγος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ὀλῐ́ος (olíos) — Later poetic
𐠃𐠑𐠿𐠚 (o-li-kso-ne) — Cypriot

Etymology

Probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₃ligos (“indigent, small, needy, ill”). Compare Old Armenian աղքատ (ałkʻat, “poor, indigent”), Old Irish líach (“wretched”), Old Prussian licuts (“small”). See also λοιγός (loigós, “destruction, ruin”) and Albanian lig (“evil, bad”), whose proto-forms are almost if not identical, but which Beekes considers etymologically separate.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /o.lí.ɡos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /oˈli.ɡos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /oˈli.ɣos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /oˈli.ɣos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /oˈli.ɣos/

Adjective

ὀλῐ́γος • (olígos) m (feminine ὀλῐ́γη, neuter ὀλῐ́γον); first/second declension

Of small amount: few, little
Of small size: little, small
Of small degree: slight

Declension

First and second declension of ὀλῐ́γος; ὀλῐ́γη; ὀλῐ́γον (Attic)

Number	Singular			Dual			Plural
Case/Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ὀλῐ́γος olígos	ὀλῐ́γη olígē	ὀλῐ́γον olígon	ὀλῐ́γω olígō	ὀλῐ́γᾱ olígā	ὀλῐ́γω olígō	ὀλῐ́γοι olígoi	ὀλῐ́γαι olígai	ὀλῐ́γᾰ olíga
Genitive	ὀλῐ́γου olígou	ὀλῐ́γης olígēs	ὀλῐ́γου olígou	ὀλῐ́γοιν olígoin	ὀλῐ́γαιν olígain	ὀλῐ́γοιν olígoin	ὀλῐ́γων olígōn	ὀλῐ́γων olígōn	ὀλῐ́γων olígōn
Dative	ὀλῐ́γῳ olígōi	ὀλῐ́γῃ olígēi	ὀλῐ́γῳ olígōi	ὀλῐ́γοιν olígoin	ὀλῐ́γαιν olígain	ὀλῐ́γοιν olígoin	ὀλῐ́γοις olígois	ὀλῐ́γαις olígais	ὀλῐ́γοις olígois
Accusative	ὀλῐ́γον olígon	ὀλῐ́γην olígēn	ὀλῐ́γον olígon	ὀλῐ́γω olígō	ὀλῐ́γᾱ olígā	ὀλῐ́γω olígō	ὀλῐ́γους olígous	ὀλῐ́γᾱς olígās	ὀλῐ́γᾰ olíga
Vocative	ὀλῐ́γε olíge	ὀλῐ́γη olígē	ὀλῐ́γον olígon	ὀλῐ́γω olígō	ὀλῐ́γᾱ olígā	ὀλῐ́γω olígō	ὀλῐ́γοι olígoi	ὀλῐ́γαι olígai	ὀλῐ́γᾰ olíga
Derived forms	Adverb			Comparative			Superlative
Derived forms	ὀλῐ́γως olígōs			ὀλῐγώτερος oligṓteros			ὀλῐγώτᾰτος oligṓtatos
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Antonyms

πολύς (polús)

Derived terms

ὀλῐγᾰ́ρχης (oligárkhēs)
ὀλῐγόθερμος (oligóthermos)
ὀλῐγόπῐστος (oligópistos)
ὀλῐγότροφος (oligótrophos)

Descendants

English: oligo-
Greek: λίγος (lígos)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὀλίγος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1068

“ὀλίγος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ὀλίγος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“ὀλίγος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
ὀλίγος 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
ὀλίγος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
“ὀλίγος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G3641 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.
- brief idem, page 98.
- distant idem, page 240.
- faint idem, page 302.
- few idem, page 317.
- insignificant idem, page 445.
- jejune idem, page 462.
- languid idem, page 475.
- limited idem, page 492.
- little idem, page 495.
- meagre idem, page 519.
- petty idem, page 609.
- remote idem, page 694.
- scant idem, page 737.
- short idem, page 768.
- slack idem, page 782.
- slender idem, page 783.
- slight idem, page 784.
- small idem, page 786.
- trifling idem, page 895.
- trivial idem, page 896.
- weak idem, page 969.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὀλίγος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1068

[1]

ὀλίγος

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