ὠΐζω

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Mike Baber
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Joined: May 30th, 2011, 11:25 pm
Location: Texas

ὠΐζω

Post by Mike Baber »

According to LSJ, the verb ὠΐζω apparently means "to sit on eggs, brood." However, there doesn't seem to be any texts in which it occurred (at least not available to examine).

If one were to use this verb to convey the idea of "[singular subject] + was brooding + ἐπὶ/ ἐπάνω + [object of preposition]," how would you conjugate it? Αctive or middle voice? Imperfect tense?

And more importantly, how would it be spelled? I've never encountered a word like this in my Greek studies, so I'm at a loss.
Paul-Nitz
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Re: ὠΐζω

Post by Paul-Nitz »

Who knows? But it will be a fun brain exercise to give it a try. I took a look at ιζω on LSJ to help make guesses at the forms.

Infinitive ὠΐζειν, ώΐσαι
ἐν οἴκῳ τῶν ὀρνιθῶν σιγᾷ! δεῖ ταύτας ὠΐζειν τὰ ᾤα. In the house of hens, be quiet. They need to sit (on) the eggs.

Indicative
  • Present
    μία ὄρνις οὐκ ὠίζει ᾠα αὐτής. One hen is not sitting (on) her eggs.
    Aorist
    ἐχθές ὠείσεν τὰ ᾠα. Yesterday, she sat (on her) eggs.
    Imperfect
    καὶ ἄλλας ἡμέρας ἡ ὄρνις ᾠζεν ᾠα. And other days the hen was sitting (on) eggs.
    Future
    τάχα ὠῒσει αὔριον. Maybe she'll sit (on the eggs) tomorrow.
Participle
ὠίσας Στεφάνος περί πολλῶν ἐν τῇ καινῇ διαθήκῃ, ἠρώτησεν τὰ άξια ἐρωτήματα ὡς Τίς ἔγραψεν τὸ πλεῖστον; After Stephen was brooding about the NT, he asked some interesting questions like "Who wrote the most?"

Imperative
αναγνούς σήμερον ἕτερας ἀποκρίσεις, ἐνόμίσα ὅτι Ἄγε, ὠείσον ᾠά! Today, after reading some answers, I thought
"go sit on eggs."


(NB τοῦτο σκῶμμα ἐστιν. ἐάν ὀργισθῶ ἀληθινῶς πέρι ἀποκρίσεως τινος ἄρα ἔλεγον “ὠΐζε ᾠά.”).
(NB This is a joke. Had I been really annoyed, I would have said "sit on eggs continually!")
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Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi
cwconrad
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Re: ὠΐζω

Post by cwconrad »

εὖγε! φίλε Παῦλε! I like it! I like it! I think that "Go sit on your eggs" will eventually supplant Voltairre's "Go tend your garden!"

One suggestion: inasmuch as the verb in question derives from the noun ὤιον/ᾤον, I think that the root will begin with the vowel ω and therefore will not take an augment at all in the indicative inflected forms; I think I'd fashion the principal parts with the contraction as ᾤζω, ὤσω, ᾦσα or uncontracted ὠίζω, ὠίσω, ὠίσα.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
RandallButh
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Re: ὠΐζω

Post by RandallButh »

I would go with ὠίσαι ὠίσαι ὠίζειν for the simple reason that ὢσαι already means to 'shove it'
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