Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἁπλοῦς ‎(haploûs) Attic, contracted
• ἁπλός ‎(haplós) Koine

Adjective

ᾰ̔πλόος • ‎(haplóos) m ‎(feminine ᾰ̔πλόη, neuter ᾰ̔πλόον); first/second declension

1. single
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.18.4

     ἀφικνοῦνται καὶ περιτειχίζουσι Μυτιλήνην ἐν κύκλῳ ἁπλῷ τείχει

     [...] and arriving at Mitylene built a single wall all round it [...]

2. simple
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 8.36

     ἀλλὰ κελεύθοις ἁπλόαις ζωᾶς ἐφαπτοίμαν, θανὼν ὡς παισὶ κλέος μὴ τὸ δύσφαμον προσάψω

     May I rather stick to the simple paths of life, so that when I die I will not fasten a bad name to my children.

   • 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 979

     κἀκεῖνον ἢ 'μὲ δεῖ θανεῖν: ἁπλοῦς λόγος

     He or I must die; the matter is simple.

3. honest, candid
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 361.b

     ἄνδρα ἁπλοῦν καὶ γενναῖον, κατ᾽ Αἰσχύλον οὐ δοκεῖν ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι ἀγαθὸν ἐθέλοντα

     an honest and noble man who, in the phrase of Aeschylus, does not wish to seem, but be, good.

4. simple-minded
   • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, To Nicocles 46

     φθονοῦσι μὲν τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσιν, ἁπλοῦς δ᾽ ἡγοῦνται τοὺς νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντας

     They look upon men of wisdom with suspicion, while they regard men of no understanding as simple-minded.

5. (metallogy) unalloyed, pure

Inflection

Descendants

• English: haplo-
• Greek: απλός ‎(aplós)

Derived terms

References

• ἁπλόος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἁπλόος in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• «ἁπλόος» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• «ἁπλόος» in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (© 2006–2016)
• ἁπλόος in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter