LOGOI

The corpus record

ἡσσ-άομαι

essaomai

to be less

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

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 51 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

ἡσσ-άομαι · hēss-aomai — LSJ

to be less, weaker than, inferior to, had proved inferior

to be less or weaker than, inferior to, c. gen. pers., E. Alc. 697: c. gen. pers. et part., ἡττᾶσθαί τινος εὖ ποιοῦντος X. An. 3.2.23, cf. Cyr. 5.4.32; ἡττᾶσθαί τινός τινι ib. 8.2.13; ἔν τινι in a thing, ib. 3.3.42, etc.: c. gen. rei, τὸ μὴ δίκαιον τῆς δίκης -ώμενον E. Ion 1117: c. neut. Adj. in acc., ὃ ἡττῷτο wherein he had proved inferior, X. Cyr. 1.4.5.

2 to be defeated, discomfited, to be broken

as a real Pass., to be defeated, discomfited, ὑπό τινος Hdt. 3.106, And. 4.28, Th. 2.39; ὑπʼ ἔρωτος, ὑπʼ ἔχθρας, Pl. Phdr. 233c, Plt. 305c, etc.; πρὸς τἀφροδίσια Id. Lg. 650a: c. gen. pers., E. Hec. 1252, Ar. Av. 70, Th. 3.57, etc.: c. gen. rei, τοῦ κόπου γὰρ ἕσσωμαι Herod. l.c.: c. dat. modi, ἑσσωθῆναι μάχῃ ὑπό τινων Hdt. 5.46, etc.; τοῖς ὅλοις D. 9.64, etc.; also c. acc., μάχην Isoc. 5.47, D. 19.320; ἀγῶνα D.C. 63.9: c. dat., τῷ θυμῷ to be broken in spirit, Hdt. 8.130; ἑσσωθέντες τῇ γνώμῃ πρὸς

3 to be cast in a suit

as law-term, to be cast in a suit, S. Aj. 1242, Ar. Pl. 482, etc.; ἡττ. ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις X. Mem. 4.4.17; δίκην, παραγραφήν, Pl. Lg. 880c, D. 45.51.

4 give way, yield, give way, be a slave to, to be in love with

give way, yield, c. gen. pers., οἱ φύσαντες ἡσσῶνται τέκνων S. Fr. 936; εἰ παθών γε σοῦ τάδʼ ἡσσηθήσομαι E. Hipp. 976; give way, be a slave to passion and the like, νηδύος ἡσσημένος Id. Fr. 282.5; τοῦ παρόντος δεινοῦ Th. 4.37; τῶν φόβων Pl. Lg. 635d; ἡδονῆς X. Ages. 5.1; ὕπνου Id. Cyr. 1.5.11; [χρημάτων] Lys. 28.9; τῆς τούτων παρασκευῆς ib. 11; θνητοῦ κάλλους Isoc. 10.60; πικροῦ ἔρωτος E. Hipp. 727: c. gen. pers., to be in love with . . , Plu. Amat.narr. 2.771f; of other things, ἡττ. τοῦ ὕδατος

5 to be overcome by

c. dat., to be overcome by . . , ἀκοῆς ἡδονῇ ἡσσώμενοι Th. 3.38, cf. 7.25; ὕπνῳ Ael. NA 13.22; τοῖς δικαίοις Plu. Cat.Mi. 16.

II overcome, defeat

later in Act. ἡττάω, overcome, τινα Corn. ND 9, Arr. Epict. 2.22.6, al.: aor. 1 ἥττησα, τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ὑπεναντίων Plb. 1.75.3; ταῖς ψυχαῖς τοὺς ὑπεναντίους Id. 3.18.5, cf. Heraclit. Incred. 16; defeat, τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀπὸ κράτους ἡττηκότες D.S. 15.87.

In the wild

6 of 224 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

No etymology authority pointer is recorded for this lemma yet — an honest gap, not an omission. The etymological dictionaries (Beekes, Chantraine, Frisk) are matched incrementally.

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