ὅρκος

See also: όρκος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *serḱ- (“to fence”). Cognate with ἕρκος (hérkos, “fence”), ὁρκάνη (horkánē, “fence”), ἑρκάνη (herkánē, “fence”), Latin sarciō.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hór.kos/ → /ˈor.kos/ → /ˈor.kos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hór.kos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)or.kos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.kos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈor.kos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈor.kos/

Noun

ὅρκος • (hórkos) m (genitive ὅρκου); second declension

1. the object by which one swears, the witness of an oath, as the Styx was among the gods, or as Zeus was among mortals
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.38
2. an oath

   Synonym: ὅρκιον (hórkion)

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 2.377

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ὅρκος; τοῦ ὅρκου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ὅρκος ho hórkos	τὼ ὅρκω tṑ hórkō	οἱ ὅρκοι hoi hórkoi
Genitive	τοῦ ὅρκου toû hórkou	τοῖν ὅρκοιν toîn hórkoin	τῶν ὅρκων tôn hórkōn
Dative	τῷ ὅρκῳ tôi hórkōi	τοῖν ὅρκοιν toîn hórkoin	τοῖς ὅρκοις toîs hórkois
Accusative	τὸν ὅρκον tòn hórkon	τὼ ὅρκω tṑ hórkō	τοὺς ὅρκους toùs hórkous
Vocative	ὅρκε hórke	ὅρκω hórkō	ὅρκοι hórkoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἐπίορκος (epíorkos)
• ὁρκίζω (horkízō)
• ὅρκιος (hórkios)
• ὁρκόω (horkóō)

 

Descendants

• Greek: όρκος (órkos)

Further reading

• “ὅρκος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὅρκος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ὅρκος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ὅρκος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ὅρκος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ὅρκος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3727 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.
  • affirmation idem, page 16.
  • asseveration idem, page 46.
  • oath idem, page 564.
  • swearing idem, page 847.