Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• βροδοδάκτυλος ‎(brododáktulos) Aeolic

Adjective

ῥοδοδᾰ́κτῠλος • ‎(rhododáktulos) m, f ‎(neuter ῥοδοδᾰ́κτῠλον); second declension (chiefly Epic)

1. rosy-fingered
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 23.241

     καί νύ κ᾽ ὀδυρομένοισι φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,

     And now rosy-fingered Dawn appeared to them as they lamented.

   • 500 BCE – 400 BCE, Bacchylides, Collected Works 19.18
   • 491 CE – 518 CE, Coluthus, Rape of Helen 99

Usage notes

In the Iliad and Odyssey, the word only appears as an epithet of Dawn, in the phrase ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς at the end of a poetic line, and most frequently in the following line, which is repeated once in the Iliad and many times in the Odyssey to introduce new days in the story (for a full list of occurrences, see the citations page):

800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.477

ἦμος δ' ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς

When rosy-fingered Dawn appeared early-born

Inflection

References

• ῥοδοδάκτυλος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ῥοδοδάκτυλος in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ῥοδοδάκτυλος in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «ῥοδοδάκτυλος» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963