ποιμήν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *poh₂imn̥, *poh₂imen, an abstract nomina agentis formed from an ablaut of Proto-Indo-European root *peh₂- (“to protect”) and common suffix *-men. Cognates include Latin pascō (“put to graze”), pāstor (“shepherd”), Sanskrit पाति (pā́ti), Old English fōda and fēdan (English food and feed).

Alternative forms

• 𐀡𐀕 (po-me) (Mycenaean)

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /po͜ɪmɛ͜ɛ́n/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /pyːméːn/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /pymín/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /pymín/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan): IPA: /pimín/

Noun

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

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

Inflection

Third declension of ποιμήν, ποιμένος

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ποιμήν	τὼ ποιμένε	οἱ ποιμένες
Genitive	τοῦ ποιμένος	τοῖν ποιμένοιν	τῶν ποιμένων
Dative	τῷ ποιμένῐ	τοῖν ποιμένοιν	τοῖς ποιμεῖσῐ(ν)
Accusative	τὸν ποιμένᾰ	τὼ ποιμένε	τοὺς ποιμένᾰς
Vocative	ποιμήν	ποιμένε	ποιμένες

Derived terms

• ἀρχιποιμήν (arkhipoimḗn, "archshepherd", "chief shepherd")

References

• LSJ
• Bauer lexicon
• Strong’s concordance number: G4166