ὥσπερ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ὡς (hōs, “as”) + περ (per, enclitic).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hɔ̌ːs.per/ → /ˈos.per/ → /ˈos.per/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hɔ̌ːs.per/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)os.per/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈos.per/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈos.per/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈos.per/

Adverb

ὥσπερ • (hṓsper)

1. like, as, even as, just as
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1396
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 994
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.206
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.263
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 14.50
   • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 303
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.93
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Stephanus 1 1
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 19.385
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.806
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.211
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.3.12
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.487
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 402
   • 414 BCE, Aristophanes, The Birds 188
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 475
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 7.5.75
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 354B
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 276
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 327D
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.121
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 4.1.19
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 3.1.19
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 612D
   • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 673
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.477
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.142
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 20.282
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 86A
   • 341 BCE, Demosthenes, Third Philippic 33
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1311
2. (to limit or modify an assertion) as it were
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.73
   • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 1276
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 4.1.13
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 8.33
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 277
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 86B
   • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Against Eratosthenes 7
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 3.1.14
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Symposium 1.11
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 2.3.19
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, On Horsemanship 7.5
3. (rarely of time)
   1. so long as, however long
      • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1361
   2. as soon as
      • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 24
4. (after a comparative)
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 2.3.16

References

• “ὥσπερ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὥσπερ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ὥσπερ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ὥσπερ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “ὥσπερ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G5618 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.
  • as idem, page 42.
  • even idem, page 284.
  • like idem, page 491.