Ancient Greek

Adjective

αἰπῠ́ς • ‎(aipús) m ‎(feminine αἰπεῖᾰ, neuter αἰπύ); first/third declension

1. steep, sheer
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.293

     ἔστι δέ τις λισσὴ αἰπεῖά τε εἰς ἅλα πέτρη
     ἐσχατιῇ Γόρτῡνος ἐν ἠεροειδέι πόντῳ·

     There is a certain smooth rock, sheer into the seawater,
     on the edge of Gortyn in the misty sea:

2. (of cities) set on a steep slope, on the top of a hill: high, lofty
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.70–71

     εἰς ὅ κ' Ἀχαιοὶ
     Ῑ̓̓λιον αἰπὺ ἕλοιεν Ἀθηναίης διὰ βουλᾱ́ς.

     until the Achaeans
     take lofty Ilium through the counsels of Athena.

3. (figuratively) sheer, utter
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.11–12

     ἔνθ' ἄλλοι μὲν πάντες, ὅσοι φύγον αἰπὺν ὄλεθρον,
     οἴκοι ἔσαν, πόλεμόν τε πεφευγότες ἠδὲ θάλασσαν·

     Then all the others, who had fled sheer destruction,
     were at home, and had escaped war and the sea.

Inflection

Synonyms

• (steep, on a slope): αἰπεινός ‎(aipeinós), αἰπός ‎(aipós)

References

• αἰπύς in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• αἰπύς in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• αἰπύς in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «αἰπύς» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• {{R:Cunliffe}
• «αἰπύς» in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (© 2006–2016)
• αἰπύς in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • beetling idem, page 69.
  • frowning idem, page 347.
  • high idem, page 399.
  • precipitous idem, page 633.
  • sheer idem, page 764.
  • steep idem, page 815.