ἐπεί

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ἐπί (epí, “on”) + εἰ (ei, “if”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /e.pěː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /eˈpi/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /eˈpi/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /eˈpi/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /eˈpi/

Conjunction

ἐπεί • (epeí)

(of time) after, after that, since, when
1. (with indicative)
  1. (of a definite occurrence in past time, mostly with aorist)
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.458
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.1.3
  - 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 1354
  - 413 BCE, Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 260
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.1.1
  - 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 42
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 6.5.27
  1. (with implied reference to some later time)
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.2
    - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.8
    - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.68
    - 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 40
    - 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 15
    - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.117
2. (with subjunctive, ἄν (án) often being added)
  - 425 BCE, Aristophanes, Lysistrata 1175
  - 414 BCE, Aristophanes, The Birds 983
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.153
  - 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On Fractures 6
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.412
  1. (referring to future time)
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.238
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.764
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 17.23
    - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.153
    - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Eubulides 16
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 2.3.29
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.412
    - 361 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Midias 34
  2. (referring generally to any one of a number of instances, with a present apodosis of repeated action) whenever, when once
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.221
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.409
    - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.34
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 20.86
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.478
    - 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1225
    - 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1025
3. (with optative, without ἄν (án))
  1. (referring to future time)
    - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 516A
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.227
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 2.105
  2. (more frequently, referring generally to any one of a number of past instances, with a past apodosis of repeated action)
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.14
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 4.5.9
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 5.3.55
    - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.38
    - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 59D
    - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 315B
  3. (in indirect speech after past tenses, representing a subjunctive in direct speech)
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 7.2.27
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 3.5.18
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.4.21
    - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.80
4. (with infinitive, only be assimilation in indirect speech)
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 619C
  - 385 BCE – 380 BCE, Plato, Symposium 174D
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.10
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.150
5. (with other words)
  1. (with τάχιστα (tákhista))
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 7.2.6
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 3.3.22
    - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1284A.40
    - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 3.2.4
    - 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 1.35
    - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 310C
    - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Pantaenetus 41
    - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 325C
  2. (with various emphatic particles)
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.426
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.57
    - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.4
    - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.9
    - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.90
(causal) since, seeing that
1. (with indicative)
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.119
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.153
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.278
  - 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 4.16
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 2.3.4
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.80
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 335C
  - 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 854
2. (in most of the constructions which are found in independent sentences)
  - 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1037
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.228
  - 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 49
  - 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 948
  - 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 9.29
  - 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 433
  - 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 2.7.14
  - 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 352
  - 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 969
  - 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 390
  - 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 73
  - 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 473E
  - 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 688
  - 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 7.5
  - 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 214
  - 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 139
3. (with infinitive in indirect speech)
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 353A
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.111
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.93
4. (in various elliptical expressions)
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 335C
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 333C
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 317A
  - 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 19E
  - 385 BCE – 380 BCE, Plato, Symposium 187A
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1121A.19
5. (sometimes epexegetic, introducing a narrative)
  - 399 BCE, Plato, Euthyphro 4C
6. (with other particles)
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 17.185
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.352
  - 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 171
  - 480 BCE – 406 BCE, Euripides, Cyclops 181
  - 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 955
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 77D
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Conon 29
  - 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 631
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 87C
  - 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.9
  - 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 923
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.18
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.169
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.276
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 13.447
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 20.181
  - 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 822
  - 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 75
  - 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 114D
  - 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 437
  - 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 495
  - 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.18
  - 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 433
  - 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.379
  - 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 446

Derived terms

ἐπᾱ́ν (epā́n)
ἐπειδή (epeidḗ)
ἐπειδήπερ (epeidḗper)
ἐπείπερ (epeíper)
ἐπείτε (epeíte)

References

“ἐπεί”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ἐπεί”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“ἐπεί”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
ἐπεί in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
ἐπεί in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
“ἐπεί”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G1893 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.
- after idem, page 17.
- as idem, page 42.
- because idem, page 68.
- else idem, page 265.
- ever since idem, page 285.
- for idem, page 334.
- since idem, page 777.
- when idem, page 975.
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN