LOGOI

The corpus record

νήπιος

nepios

under-aged, young, feeble, childish, foolish

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 45 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. νήπιος · nēpios — Beekes

νήπιος [adj.] ‘under-aged, young, feeble, childish, foolish’ (Il.). «Ὁ» COMP As a first member in νηπιό-φρων ‘puerile, thoughtless’ (Str.). *DER νηπιέη [f.] ‘puerility, childish behaviour’ (Hom.) with Aeol. -én for -η, probably after ἠνορέη (Leumann 1950: 1107, Chantraine 1942: 83); hence νηπίεος = νήπιος (Opp.); νηπιότης [f.] ‘puerility’ (PL, Arist.); νηπιάζω [v.] ‘to be childish’ (Hp. Ep., Erinn., 1 Ep. Cor. 14, … — [Beekes, s.v. νήπιος, p. 1067]

2. νήπιος · nēpios — Chantraine

νήπιος : « tout jeune », épithète de παῖς, βρέφος, εἴο., dit exceptionnellement d’animaux, «puéril, infantile », donc « sot, sans raison », etc. (Hom., poètes, rare en prose attique, Arist., Pib., pap.). Composés : νηπιο-κτόνος (LXX), -ppov (Str.). Dérivés : substantifs, νηπιέη «état de petit enfant» (IL. 9,491), généralement au pluriel, «manières de tout petit enfant, enfantillages »; on explique la finale -ἔη par … — [Chantraine, s.v. νήπιος, p. 768]

3. νήπιος · nēpios — Frisk

νήπιος 'noch unmündig, jung, schwach, kindisch, unverständig, töricht” (seit Il.). Als Vorderglied u.a. in νηπιό-τφρων "kindi- schen Wesens, unbesonnen’ (Str.). Davon νηπιέη f. “"Kindlich- keit, kindisches Verhalten, Unverstand’, pl. “Kindereien’ ἢ (Hom.) mit äol. -ἑη für -in, wohl nach ἠνορέη (Leumann Hom. ; Wörter 110 4.72 m. Lit., Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1, 83, ὶ Porzig Satzinhalte 206); danach γνηπίεος = νήπιος … — [Frisk, s.v. νήπιος, p. 1287]

4. νήπιος · nēpios — Frisk

νήπιος. Myk. na-pu-ti-jo = ναπύτιος, von negierendem ve- und ἠπύω, ἀπύω “rufen” (vgl. Boi-Nrv-os, ἠπύ-τα, Ηπύτιος), eig. „der (noch) nicht vernehmlich rufen kann‘; daneben νήπιος aus *yasıFıoc. Heubeck Stud. Mie. 11 (1970) 70ff. Aber kleine Kinder können sich doch gewöhnlich sehr gut vernehmlich machen. — [Frisk, s.v. νήπιος, p. 2283]

5. νήπῐος · nēpios — LSJ

infant, child, a child, infancy, infant, minor

infant, child, freq. in Hom., νήπιον, οὔ πω εἰδόθʼ ὁμοιίου πολέμοιο Il. 9.440; νήπια τέκνα 2.136, etc.; βρέφος ἔτʼ ὄντα ν. E. Ion 1399, cf. Andr. 755, etc.; νηπίους ἔτι Id. Heracl. 956; τὸ ν. Pl. Ax. 366d; ἁρμόττουσα τοῖς ν. [πλαταγή] Arist. Pol. 1340b30; ἐκ νηπίου from a child, from infancy, [τὸ ἡδὺ] ἐκ ν. ἡμῖν συντέθραπται Id. EN 1105a2; ἐκ νηπίων Plb. 4.20.8; ἐκ ν. ἡλικίας PFlor. 36.5 (iv A.D.); infant in law, minor, ἐφʼ ὅσον ὁ κληρονόμος ν. ἐστιν Ep.Gal. 4.1; of children up to puberty, αἱ τῶ

2 the young

less freq. of animals, Il. 2.311, 11.113; νήπια alone, the young of an animal, 17.134.

3

of plants, Thphr. HP 8.1.7.

II

metaph.,

1 childish, silly, without foresight, blind, child

of the understanding, childish, silly, Od. 13.237; μέγα ν. Il. 16.46, cf. Od. 9.44; simply, without foresight, blind, Il. 22.445; ἀνὴρ ν. Heraclit. 79, cf. Emp. 11.1, Pi. P. 3.82, A. Pr. 443, Democr. 76, etc.; ν. ὃς . . γονέων ἐπιλάθεται S. El. 145 (lyr.); οὔτε πρὶν νήπιον, νῦν τʼ . . μέγαν no child before and now full-grown (i.e. in mind), Id. OT 652 (lyr.); of words, νήπια βάζεις Pi. Fr. 157; ἀντιτείνειν νήπιʼ ἀντὶ νηπίων E. Med. 891; μηδὲν εἴπῃς ν. Ar. Nu. 105.

2 like that of a child

of bodily strength, like that of a child, βίη δέ τε ν. αὐτῶν Il. 11.561.

In the wild

6 of 163 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. νήπιος (scan pp. 1067-1068; entry #4332).
  • Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. νήπιος (scan p. 768; entry #5639).
  • Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. νήπιος (scan pp. 1287-1288; entry #4093).

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