The corpus record

ἔγχος

egchos · τό

spear, lance

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Shield of Heracles 10 · 30.91/10k
Iliad 205 · 18.38/10k
Rhesus 4 · 7.44/10k
Ajax 4 · 5.09/10k
Odyssey 35 · 4.03/10k
Heracles 3 · 3.83/10k
Oedipus Tyrannus 3 · 3.24/10k
Phoenissae 3 · 3.11/10k
Trachiniae 2 · 2.75/10k
Persians 1 · 1.96/10k
Theogony 1 · 1.45/10k
Suppliants 1 · 1.42/10k

Densest 12 of 20 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant — LSJ

spear, lance

spear, lance, Il. 6.319, etc.; ἔ. λογχωτά B. Fr. 3.

II weapon, sword, weapons, arrows, ball

weapon in general: sword, S. Aj. 287, al., E. El. 696, etc.: pl., weapons, ἄτερ ἐγχέων Pi. P. 9.28; πτερωτὰ ἔγχη arrows, E. HF 1098; πῦρ . . Ἑκάτης ἔγχος S. Fr. 535 (anap.); of Nausicaaʼs ball, τὸ δʼ ἔ. ἐν ποσὶν κυλίνδεται ib. 782: metaph., φροντίδος ἔ. Id. OT 170 (lyr.).

III armed force

meton., armed force, Ἰηπύγων ἔγχος ἀπωσάμενοι Call. Fr. 444.

In the wild

ἔγχη · enchē Aeschylus, Persians 240
ἔγχος · enchos Aristotle, Ars Poetica 25
ἔγχει · enchei Aristotle, Athenian Constitution Ath. Pol..20 (DIORISIS sentence 258)
ἔγχος · enchos Euripides, Electra 695 (DIORISIS sentence 445)
ἔγχος · enchos Euripides, Hecuba *poludw/rou ei)/dwlon (DIORISIS sentence 4)
ἔγχει · enchei Euripides, Helen 1 (DIORISIS sentence 902)

6 of 280 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) Treated in Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) s.v. ἔγχος (scan pp. 419-420; entry #1876).
Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. ἔγχος (scan p. 325; entry #2244).
Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. ἔγχος (scan pp. 472-473; entry #1727).

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