Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• δέννω ‎(dénnō)

Verb

δέω • ‎(déō)

1. I bind, tie, fasten, fetter
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 10.443

     ἠέ με δήσαντες λίπετ᾽ αὐτόθι νηλέϊ δεσμῷ

     or bind me with a cruel bond and leave me here

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 10.475

     ὠκέες ἵπποι ἐξ ἐπιδιφριάδος πυμάτης ἱμᾶσι δέδεντο

     his swift horses were tethered by the reins to the topmost rim of the chariot

   1. (figuratively)
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 3.54

        ἀλλὰ κέρδει καὶ σοφία δέδεται.

        But even skill is enthralled by the love of gain.

   2. (middle voice) I tie onto myself
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.44

        ποσσὶ δ᾽ ὑπὸ λιπαροῖσιν ἐδήσατο καλὰ πέδιλα

        and beneath his shining feet he bound his fair sandals

   3. (with genitive) I hinder from
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.380

        ἀλλὰ σύ πέρ μοι εἰπέ [...] ὅς τίς μ᾽ ἀθανάτων πεδάᾳ καὶ ἔδησε κελεύθου

        But do thou tell me [...] who of the immortals fetters me here, and has hindered me from my path

   4. (medicine) I brace
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, In the Surgery 17

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

Antonyms

• λῡ́ω ‎(lū́ō)

References

• δέω in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “G1210”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Either from Proto-Hellenic *dew- or Proto-Indo-European *dews-. If the latter, then cognate with Sanskrit दोष ‎(doṣa).

Alternative forms

• δεύω ‎(deúō) Aeolic, Epic

Verb

δέω • ‎(déō)

1. To lack, need, require [+genitive = something, someone]
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, The Statesman 277.d

     παραδείγματος [...] αὖ μοι καὶ τὸ παράδειγμα αὐτὸ δεδέηκεν.

     The very example I employ requires another example.

   1. with πολλοῦ ‎(polloû) To be far from being able to do [+infinitive = something]
      • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 30.d

        πολλοῦ δέω ἐγὼ ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ ἀπολογεῖσθαι

        I am far from giving a defense for myself

   2. participle δέων ‎(déōn)
      1. modifying a noun, with genitive of the number by which something is less than another thing: lacking a number: a number less than something, something minus a number; often used to express numbers ending in 8 or 9
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.14.1

           δυῶν δέοντα τεσσεράκοντα ἔτεα

           thirty minus two years; two less than thirty years [= 38 years]

      2. with both the participle and the number in the genitive: genitive absolute: with a number lacking, a number less than
         • 3rd century AD, Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 5.27

           πόλεων δυοῖν δεούσαιν ἑξήκοντα

           sixty cities with two lacking or two less than sixty [= 58 cities]

2. (middle voice, never impersonal, transitive) To lack, not have, or need [+genitive = something]
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1148

     ἐπεὶ τὰ σὰ δεῖται κολαστοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ τοῦδ᾽ ἔπη.

     Your words need rebuking more than his.

   1. (intransitive) to need [+infinitive = to do something]
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 392.d

        ἔτι δέομαι σαφέστερον μαθεῖν

        I still need to understand more plainly.

   2. (intransitive) To be in need

      οἱ δεόμενοι‎

      hoi deómenoi

      the needy

   3. (transitive) To beg [+two genitives = something from someone]; [+genitive and infinitive = someone to do something]
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.157.1

        ἐπιτρέπεσθαι ἕτοιμοι ἦσαν τῶν ἐδέετο σφέων

        they were ready to entrust to him all that he asked from them

Usage notes

The third person and non-finite forms are also used impersonally: see δεῖ ‎(deî).

Other forms: δεοῦμαι ‎(deoûmai) for δεήσομαι ‎(deḗsomai) (Doric: Epicharmus, Collected Works 120).

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

References

• δέω in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• δέω in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• δέω in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «δέω» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• «δέω» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• «δέω» in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (© 2006–2016)
• δέω in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• “G1163”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• «δέω» in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th-12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Etymology 3

Verb

δέω • ‎(déō)

1. Alternative form of δήω ‎(dḗō)