Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἐπαίνημῐ ‎(epaínēmi) Aeolic
• ἐπαινίω ‎(epainíō) Laconian

Verb

ἐπαινέω • ‎(epainéō)

1. I approve, applaud, agree
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.461

     ὣς ἔφατ᾽ Ἀτρεΐδης, ἐπὶ δ᾽ ᾔνεον ἄλλοι Ἀχαιοί.

     So spake the son of Atreus, and all the Achaeans shouted assent.

   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.168

     σύνθεσιν ταύταν ἐπαινήσαντες οἱ μὲν κρίθεν

     Approving this arrangement, they parted company.

   • 414 BCE, Aristophanes, The Birds 1616

     ὁρᾷς; ἐπαινεῖ χοὖτος.

     Do you see? He also agrees.

   1. I praise, commend
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.34.5

        ἥσθη τε ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Καμβύσης καὶ ἐπαίνεε τὴν Κροίσου κρίσιν.

        Cambyses was glad to have heard this, and he praised Croesus' judgement.

      • 620 BCE – 500 BCE, Alcaeus of Mytilene, Collected Works 37A

        μέγ᾽ ἐπαίνεντες ἀόλλεες

        shouting his praise by their thousands

      • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 342

        τὰ μὲν σ᾽ ἐπαινῶ κοὐδαμῇ λήξω ποτέ:

        I thank you for all this and shall never cease to thank you.

      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.25.2.[Brasidias] was the first that was praised at Sparta in this war

        πρῶτος τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπῃνέθη ἐν Σπάρτῃ.

      • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, Panathenaicus 118

        ἀντὶ τῆς ὑπὸ πάντων ἐπαινουμένης

        in place of the [polity] commended by all

   2. I agree or undertake to do
2. I recommend, advise
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1360

     τοιούσδ᾽ ἐπαινεῖς δῆτα σὺ κτᾶσθαι φίλους;

     So then, are these the type of friends that you recommend we make?

3. Used to decline an offer or invitation.
   • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 508

     κάλλιστ᾽, ἐπαινῶ

4. (Rhapsody) I recite

Usage notes

The aorist ἐπῄνεσα ‎(epḗinesa) is sometimes used in Attic in a present sense.

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

Synonyms

• ἐπαινετέω ‎(epainetéō)
• (recommend): παραινέω ‎(parainéō)

References

• ἐπαινέω in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἐπαινέω in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἐπαινέω in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «ἐπαινέω» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• «ἐπαινέω» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἐπαινέω in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• “G1867”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979