Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• λάζομαι ‎(lázomai) Homeric
• λαββάνω ‎(labbánō)

Verb

λᾰμβᾰ́νω • ‎(lambánō)

1. I take
   1. I take hold of, grasp, seize
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 6.81

        ἡ δ᾽ ἔλαβεν μάστιγα καὶ ἡνία σιγαλόεντα

        and she took the whip and bright reins

      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 21.286

        χειρὶ δὲ χεῖρα λαβόντες

        clasping his hand in theirs

      1. I take by force, plunder
         • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.273

           εἰ τούτω κε λάβοιμεν, ἀροίμεθά κε κλέος ἐσθλόν.

           Could we but take these twain, we should win us goodly renown.

      2. I exact (punishment)
         • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, On the Murder of Eratosthenes 29

           καὶ ταύτην ἔλαβον τὴν δίκην

           and I exacted that punishment

   2. (of emotions) I seize
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.387

        Ἀτρεΐωνα δ᾽ ἔπειτα χόλος λάβεν

        thereafter anger seized the son of Atreus

      1. (of a god) I possess
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.79.4

           ὅτι βακχεύομεν καὶ ἡμέας ὁ θεὸς λαμβάνει

           because we play the Bacchant and the god possesses us

      2. (of darkness, etc.) I cover
         • 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 365

           κνέφας δὲ τέμενος αἰθέρος λάβῃ

           and darkness had covered the region of the sky

   3. I catch, overtake
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.159

        ἔνθ᾽ υἷας Πριάμοιο δύω λάβε

        Then took he two sons of Priam

   4. I catch, discover, detect
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.89.2

        λαμφθῆναι γὰρ τινὰ φασὶ μισγόμενον νεκρῷ προσφάτῳ γυναικός

        For it is said that one was caught having intercourse with the fresh corpse of a woman

   5. I bind (under oath)
      • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 276

        ὥσπερ μ᾽ ἀραῖον ἔλαβες, ὧδ᾽, ἄναξ, ἐρῶ.

        As you have bound me under oath, my king, I will speak.

   6. I keep
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.42.2

        τὴν Ἴδην δὲ λαβὼν ἐς ἀριστερὴν χεῖρα

        keeping Ida on the left

   7. I take (food or drugs)
      • Diocl., Fr. 121

        τὸν σικυόν φησι μετὰ σιτίων ἐν πρώτοις λαμβανόμενον ἐνοχλεῖν

        [he] says that cucumber, if it is taken with the sium in the first course, makes the eater uncomfortable

   8. I perceive, understand
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.41.1

        ταῦτα ἐπιλεξάμενος [...] καὶ νόῳ λαβὼν ὥς οἱ εὖ ὑπετίθετο Ἄμασις

        reading this, and perceiving that Amasis' advice was good

      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.142.3

        οἱ γὰρ χρησμολόγοι ταύτῃ ταῦτα ἐλάμβανον

        for the readers of oracles took the verses to mean [that]...

      1. (logic) I assume, take as granted
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Prior Analytics 46.b.6
   9. I undertake
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.71.3

        [...] ἐπιχείρησιν ταύτην μὴ οὕτω συντάχυνε ἀβούλως, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τὸ σωφρονέστερον αὐτὴν λάμβανε

        don not hurry this undertaking without thinking, but take it up more prudently

2. I receive, get
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.427

     ἂψ ὅ γε τὴν ἀπέλυσε λαβὼν ἀπερείσι᾽ ἄποινα

     but thereafter set her free, when he had received ransom past counting

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.275

     ἦ τ᾽ ἂν ἐγὼ τὰ πρῶτα λαβὼν

     surely it were that I should win the first prize

   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King

     τίς οὗτος ἔσται, τίς παραρρίψει, τέκνα, τοιαῦτ᾽ ὀνείδη λαμβάνων

     who shall be the man, my daughters, to risk suffering reproach [...]

   1. 1. I receive hospitably
         • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.255

           ἥ με λαβοῦσα ἐνδυκέως ἐφίλει

           She took me to her home with kindly welcome

      2. I receive in marriage
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.108.1

           δοκέων αὐτὴν μᾶλλον λάμψεσθαι ἢν ταῦτα ποιήσῃ

           for he thought that by doing so he would be most likely to win her

      3. I conceive
         • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, Prorrhetics 2.24
   2. I admit
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 1.81

        ὁ μέγας δὲ κίνδυνος ἄναλκιν οὐ φῶτα λαμβάνει.

        Great danger does not admit of a coward.

   3. (of emotions)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 10.461

        εἰς ὅ κεν αὖτις θυμὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσι λάβητε

        until you once again take heart

      • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 729

        ὁρῶ τιν᾽ ὑμᾶς ὀμμάτων εἰληφότας φόβον νεώρη τῆς ἐμῆς ἐπεισόδου

        I see from your eyes that you feel a sudden fear at my coming

3. (middle voice) I take hold of
   1. • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 5.325

        ἀλλὰ μεθορμηθεὶς ἐνὶ κύμασιν ἐλλάβετ᾽ αὐτῆς

        but sprang after [his raft] amid the waves, and took hold of it

   2. I lay hands upon
   3. I find fault with, censure
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 637.c
      • 170 CE – 250 CE, Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4.22
   4. I check myself
      • 200 CE – 400 CE, Heliodorus of Emesa, Aethiopica 2.24

Inflection

Along with a few others (ἐλθέ ‎(elthé), ἰδέ ‎(idé), εὑρέ ‎(heuré), εἰπέ ‎(eipé)), the aorist imperative has an irregular accent: λαβέ ‎(labé) and not **λάβε. This is not the case in compounds, however.

Derived terms

Related terms

• λαβίς ‎(labís)
• λάφυρα ‎(láphura)

Descendants

• Greek: λαμβάνω ‎(lambánō)

References

• λαμβάνω in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• λαμβάνω in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• λαμβάνω in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «λαμβάνω» 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
• «λαμβάνω» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• λαμβάνω in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• “G2983”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• «λαμβάνω» in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th-12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• 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

Greek

Alternative forms

• λαβαίνω ‎(lavaíno)

Verb

λαμβάνω • ‎(lamváno) ‎(simple past έλαβα, passive form λαμβάνομαι)

1. get, receive
2. take
3. (figuratively) understand, get

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (get): παίρνω ‎(paírno)

Related terms

• απολαμβάνω ‎(apolamváno, “to enjoy”)
• αντιλαμβάνομαι ‎(antilamvánomai, “to realise”)
• απολαμβάνω ‎(apolamváno, “to enjoy”)
• επαναλαμβάνω ‎(epanalamváno, “to repeat”)
• καταλαβαίνω ‎(katalavaíno, “to understand, to realise, to notice”)
• καταλαμβάνω ‎(katalamváno, “to seize, to acquire sovereignty”)
• λαμβάνω χώρα ‎(lamváno chóra, “take place”)