English

Interjection

ecce

1. used to call attention to one persecuted unjustly

Latin

Etymology

From ec- +‎ -ce.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈek.ke/, [ˈɛk.kɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈet.t͡ʃe/

Interjection

ecce!

1. see!, look!, behold!, points out something with emphasis

   Quem quaero, optime ecce obviam mihi est.

   Behold! There comes he I was wishing for.

   Ecce hominem miserum.

   Behold, a sad man.

   Ecce autem video rure redeuntem senem.

   But look, I see the old man returning to the country.

2. (mostly elliptical) here!, used to denote that something is present (confer the French voici, or the Italian ecco)

   Quid cessamus ludos facere? Circus noster ecce adest!

   Why should we stop playing games? We have our theatre here!

   Quid me quaeris? Ecce me.

   Are you searching for me? Here I am.

   Ecce.

   Here I am.

   Ecce odium meum. Quid me vis?

   See here my aversion. What is it you want with me?

   Ecce tuae litterae de Varrone.

   Lo and behold, your letters about Varro!

   • Stasimus in the play Trinummus by Titus Maccius Plautus

     Ecce hominem te, Stasime, nihili.

     See now, Stasimus, what a worthless fellow you are.

Usage notes

• This word is sometimes used in the middle of a clause.

  Audiat haec tantum—vel qui venit ecce Palaemon.

• The interjection is particularly used in:
  • After objects mentioned or enumerations, to introduce a new one with emphasis:

    Consecuti sunt hos Critias, Theramenes, Lysias, etc. ... ecce tibi exortus est Isocrates.

    They followed Critias, Theramenes, Lysias, etc. lo there arises Isocrates to thee.

See also

• eccere
• em
• eccum (ecce eum)
• eccam (ecce eam)
• eccas (ecce eas)
• eccillum (ecce illum)
• ellum (em illum/ecce illum)
• ellam

• Ecce Quam Bonum (behold, how good)
• Ecce Homo (behold the man)
• Ecce Cor Meum (behold my heart)
• Ecce homo qui est faba (Behold the man who is a bean)

By composition with ecce or em, behold! are formed eccum (for ecce eum), eccam, eccōs, eccās; eccillum (for ecce illum); ellum (for em illum), ellam, ellōs, ellās; eccistam. These forms are dramatic and colloquial.

References

• ecce in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ecce in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “ecce”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.