Ancient Greek

Verb

στοχᾰ́ζομαι • ‎(stokházomai)

1. I aim for, shoot at
   • 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, First Tetralogy 1.4

     οὐδὲ μὴν ἄλλου στοχαζόμενος ἔτυχε τούτου

     Nor did the criminal strike the dead man when aiming at someone else

   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.6.29

     εἰ δέ ποτε πόλεμος γένοιτο, δύναισθε καὶ ἀνθρώπων στοχάζεσθαι

     if there should ever be a war, that you might be able to aim at men also

   1. (figuratively) I endeavor after, aim at
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On Ancient Medicine 9

        δεῖ γὰρ μέτρου τινὸς στοχάσασθαι.

        For it is necessary to aim at some measure.

      • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 465.a

        ὅτι τοῦ ἡδέος στοχάζεται ἄνευ τοῦ βελτίστου

        because it aims at the pleasant and ignores the best

2. I try to make out, I guess at
   • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, To Demonicus 50

     εἰ δὲ δεῖ θνητὸν ὄντα τῆς τῶν θεῶν στοχάσασθαι διανοίας

     And if a mortal may make conjecture of the thoughts of the gods

   • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 464.c

     οὐ γνοῦσα λέγω ἀλλὰ στοχασαμένη

     I do not say with knowledge, but by speculation

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

Synonyms

• τῠχᾰ́ζομαι ‎(tukházomai)

References

• στοχάζομαι in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• «στοχάζομαι» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette