Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• σώζω ‎(sṓzō)
• σᾰόω ‎(saóō)
• σάωμῐ ‎(sáōmi)
• σώω ‎(sṓō)
• σόω ‎(sóō)

Verb

σῴζω • ‎(sṓizō)

1. I save
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.430

     ὁ μὲν ἐν μέσῳ ἄνδρα φέρεσκε, / τὼ δ᾽ ἑτέρω ἑκάτερθεν ἴτην σώοντες ἑταίρους.

     The one in the middle in each case bore a man, and the other two went, one on either side, saving my comrades.

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.503

     νῦν ἄρκιον ἢ ἀπολέσθαι / ἠὲ σαωθῆναι καὶ ἀπώσασθαι κακὰ νηῶν.

     Now it is sure that we must either perish utterly or find deliverance by thrusting back the peril from the ships.

   1. I heal
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, The Coan Praenotions 136
   2. (Christianity) I save
      • New Testament, First Epistle to the Corinthians 1.21

        εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεὸς [...] σῶσαι τοὺς πιστεύοντας.

        it was God's good pleasure [...] to save those who believe

   3. (rare in Homer) Ι keep safe, preserve
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 13.230

        ἀλλὰ σάω μὲν ταῦτα, σάω δ᾽ ἐμέ:

        Nay, save this [treasure], and save me.

   4. I keep, observe, maintain
      • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 241

        σῴζων ἐφετμὰς Λοξίου χρηστηρίους, / πρόσειμι δῶμα καὶ βρέτας τὸ σόν, θεά.

        Keeping the commands of Loxias' oracle, I now approach your house and image, goddess.

   5. (usually middle) I keep in mind, remember
      • 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 266

        Ἕλληνες ἐπελάθοντο, τὰς δὲ μὴ κακὰς / ἔσῳζον ὥσπερ τὰς κακὰς σῴζουσί μου.

        The Hellenes would have forgotten the evil fate that I now have, and would remember what part of my life is not evil, as they now remember what is.

   6. I bring safely (to)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 5.451

        τὸν δ᾽ ἐσάωσεν ἐς ποταμοῦ προχοάς

        and [the god] brought him safely to the mouth of the river

   7. I rescue
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.752

        εἰ μή σφωε πατὴρ εὐρὺ κρείων ἐνοσίχθων / ἐκ πολέμου ἐσάωσε καλύψας ἠέρι πολλῇ.

        but that their father, the wide-ruling Shaker of Earth, saved them from war

   8. I save for
      • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 1022.τὰ μηρἴ ἐξελὼν δεῦρ᾽ ἔκφερε, / χοὔτω τὸ πρόβατον τῷ χορηγῷ σῴζεται.

        Cut off the legs and bring them here; thus the carcass will be saved for the Choregus.

   9. (with infinitive)
      • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 600.κομπὸς εἶ σπονδαῖς πεποιθώς, αἵ σε σῴζουσιν θανεῖν.

        Relying on the truce, which saves you from dying, you turn boaster.

   10. (with participle)
       • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia

         αἱρετώτερόν ἐστι μαχομένους ἀποθνῄσκειν μᾶλλον ἢ φεύγοντας σῴζεσθαι

         it is better to die in battle than to save one's life by running away

Inflection

Other attested forms: σωάδδει and ἀποσοΐδδω (Laconian); σωννύω.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Greek: σώζω ‎(sózo)

References

• σῴζω in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• «σῴζω» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “G4982”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979