ποιμήν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *poh₂imḗn, an abstract nomen agentis formed from an ablaut of Proto-Indo-European root *peh₂- (“to protect”) and common suffix *-mḗn. Cognates include Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀕 (po-me), Latin pascō (“put to graze”), pāstor (“shepherd”), Sanskrit पाति (pā́ti), Old English fōda and fēdan (English food and feed).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /poi̯.mɛ̌ːn/ → /pyˈmin/ → /piˈmin/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /poi̯.mɛ̌ːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /pyˈme̝n/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /pyˈmin/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /pyˈmin/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /piˈmin/

Noun

ποιμήν • (poimḗn) m (genitive ποιμένος); third declension

1. shepherd, herdsman

   Synonyms: μηλᾰ́της (mēlátēs), μηλοφῠ́λᾰξ (mēlophúlax)

2. shepherd of the people: pastor, teacher, epithet of Agamemnon

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ποιμήν; τοῦ ποιμένος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ποιμήν ho poimḗn	τὼ ποιμένε tṑ poiméne	οἱ ποιμένες hoi poiménes
Genitive	τοῦ ποιμένος toû poiménos	τοῖν ποιμένοιν toîn poiménoin	τῶν ποιμένων tôn poiménōn
Dative	τῷ ποιμένῐ tôi poiméni	τοῖν ποιμένοιν toîn poiménoin	τοῖς ποιμέσῐ / ποιμέσῐν toîs poimési(n)
Accusative	τὸν ποιμένᾰ tòn poiména	τὼ ποιμένε tṑ poiméne	τοὺς ποιμένᾰς toùs poiménas
Vocative	ποιμήν poimḗn	ποιμένε poiméne	ποιμένες poiménes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἀρχιποίμην (arkhipoímēn, “archshepherd, arch-shepherd, chief shepherd”)
• ποιμαίνω (poimaínō, “to shepherd”)
• ποιμενικός (poimenikós)

Descendants

• Greek: ποιμένας (poiménas)
• → Coptic: ⲡⲟⲓⲙⲏⲛ (poimēn)
• → Romanian: Pimen

Further reading

• “ποιμήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ποιμήν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ποιμήν 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
• ποιμήν in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ποιμήν”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G4166 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • shepherd idem, page 765.