Ancient Greek

Noun

ὤψ • ‎(ṓps) f ‎(genitive ὠπός); third declension

1. (the phrase εἰς ὦπα, in Homer and Hesiod) to the eye; (possibly) in the face
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.158

     αἰνῶς ἀθανάτῃσι θεῇς εἰς ὦπα ἔοικεν

     To the eye [or in her face] she looks astonishingly like the immortal goddesses.

2. (rarely in other forms) eye
   • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Cratylus 409.c

     Σωκράτης   ὁ μὲν ‘μεὶς’ ἀπὸ τοῦ μειοῦσθαι εἴη ἂν ‘μείης’ ὀρθῶς κεκλημένος, τὰ δ᾽ ‘ἄστρα’ ἔοικε τῆς ἀστραπῆς ἐπωνυμίαν ἔχειν. ἡ δὲ ‘ἀστραπή,’ ὅτι τὰ ὦπα ἀναστρέφει, ‘ἀναστρωπὴ’ ἂν εἴη, νῦν δὲ ‘ἀστραπὴ’ καλλωπισθεῖσα κέκληται.

     • 1903 translation by John Burnet

       The word “month” (μείς) would be properly pronounced μείης, from μειοῦσθαι, “to grow less,” and I think the stars (ἄστερα) get their name from ἀστραπή (lightning). But ἀστραπή, because it turns our eyes upwards (τὰ ὦπα ἀναστρέθει), would be called ἀναστρωπή, which is now pronounced more prettily ἀστραπή.

Inflection

Derived terms

• βοῶπις ‎(boôpis)
• γλαυκῶπις ‎(glaukôpis)
• Κύκλωψ ‎(Kúklōps)

Related terms

• ὄσσε ‎(ósse)
• ὄμμα ‎(ómma)

References

• ὤψ in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ὤψ in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• «ὤψ» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• J. B. Hofmann, Ετυμολογικόν Λεξικόν της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής (Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen)