ὄκνος

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱenk- (“to hang, tarry”), shared with Latin cunctor (“I delay, hold up”).

ὄκνος • (óknos) m (genitive ὄκνου); second declension

1. shrinking, hesitation
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.817:

     οὔτέ τί με δέος ἴσχει ἀκήριον οὔτέ τις ὄκνος

     oúté tí me déos ískhei akḗrion oúté tis óknos

     neither spiritless fear nor some hesitation holds me back

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.49:

     ἀντιλέγοντος δὲ τοῦ Νικίου ὄκνος τις καὶ μέλλησις ἐνεγένετο

     antilégontos dè toû Nikíou óknos tis kaì méllēsis enegéneto

     Nicias still objecting, a certain hesitation and indecisiveness arose in

• 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

• “ὄκνος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • backwardness idem, page 58.
  • chariness idem, page 126.
  • delay idem, page 207.
  • delicacy idem, page 207.
  • demur idem, page 210.
  • diffldence idem, page 223.
  • disinclination idem, page 234.
  • dread idem, page 251.
  • embarrassment idem, page 267.
  • faint-heartedness idem, page 302.
  • faltering idem, page 304.
  • fear idem, page 312.
  • flagging idem, page 325.
  • flinching idem, page 328.
  • hesitation idem, page 398.
  • indecision idem, page 431.
  • irresolution idem, page 460.
  • luke-warmness idem, page 504.
  • misgiving idem, page 534.
  • oscillation idem, page 580.
  • procrastination idem, page 644.
  • pusillanimity idem, page 660.
  • qualm idem, page 663.
  • reluctance idem, page 692.
  • scruple idem, page 743.
  • scrupulousness idem, page 743.
  • shrinking idem, page 771.
  • slowness idem, page 786.
  • squeamishness idem, page 808.
  • tardiness idem, page 855.
  • torpor idem, page 881.
  • unreadiness idem, page 928.
  • unsteadiness idem, page 933.
  • vacillation idem, page 942.
  • wavering idem, page 968.