εἴτε

See also: είτε and εἶτε

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• αἴτε (aíte) — Doric
• εἴθ’ (eíth’) — apocopic before /h/

Etymology

From εἰ (ei, “if”) +‎ τε (te, “even, and”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ěː.te/ → /ˈi.te/ → /ˈi.te/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ěː.te/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈi.te/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.te/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.te/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈi.te/

Conjunction

εἴτε • (eíte)

1. (generally doubled) either...or, whether..or
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 606
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.349
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1049
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 843
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 683
   • 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 345
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phil. 34B
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 471D
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.138
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1403
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 994
   • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 517
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 864A
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.35
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 768
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 468
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 2.1.7
   • 458 BCE, Euripides, Electra 895
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 277D
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 178
   • 438 BCE, Euripides, Alcestis 114
2. (like εἰ (ei), in indirect questions)
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.90

References

• “εἴτε”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “εἴτε”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “εἴτε”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• εἴτε in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• εἴτε in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• εἴτε in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “εἴτε”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G1535 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.
  • whether idem, page 975.