LOGOI

The corpus record

φείδομαι

pheidomai

to spare, save, refrain from

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

What it meant

1. φείδομαι · pheidomai — Beekes

φείδομαι [v.] ‘to spare, save, refrain from’ (IL.). «τεῦ *b’eid- ‘split’ (2)> °VAR Sigm. aor. φείσασθαι (QO. 236, etc.), redupl. them. aor. πεφιδέσθαι, opt. -οίμην (Y 464, Φ 101, τ 277); on the differentiation in meaning against φείσασθαι, see Chantraine 1942: 415; fut. φείσομαι (Att.), “εφιδήσεται (O 215, QO 158 = 187), φεισθήσομαι (pap. IP), perf. med. ptc. nepeiopévoc (Luc, Ὁ. C.), πεφιδημένος (Nonn.), ipv. … — [Beekes, s.v. φείδομαι, p. 1611]

2. φείδομαι · pheidomai — Frisk

φείδομαι (seit Il.), vereinzelt m. ὑπο-, περι- (X., A. R. u.a.), Aor. 1. φείσασϑαι (2 236 usw.), Aor. 2. m. Redupl. πεφιδέασϑαι, Opt. -οἰμην (Y 464, Φ 101, ı 277; zur Bed.differenzierung gegenüber φείσασϑαι Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1, 415), Fut. 1000 φελγύνει- --φελλεύς — [Frisk, s.v. φείδομαι, p. 1971]

3. φείδομαι · pheidomai — LSJ

spare

spare:

I spare, not destroy, spare, spare, be merciful

spare persons and things, e.g. in war, i.e. not destroy them, c. gen., Τρώων Il. 21.101; ἀνδρός 24.158, cf. Od. 9.277, 22.54, Pl. Ap. 31a; Ἰλίου Il. 15.215; Ἄρης οὐκ ἀγαθῶν φ. Anacr. l.c.; ἀπʼ ἀνδρῶν ὧν Ἄρης ἐφείσατο A. Th. 412; γῆς πατρίδος Sol. l.c.; μὴ φείσῃ βίου spare not my life, S. Ph. 749; μὴ φείδεσθε . . στρατοῦ Id. Aj. 844; φ. μήτε ἰδίου μήτε δημοσίου οἰκοδομήματος Th. 1.90, cf. 3.74: abs., spare, be merciful, ib. 59.

II spare, use sparingly, taking care, to spare, to use, give freely

spare persons and things in using them, use sparingly, ἵππων φειδόμενος, i.e. taking care of them, Il. 5.202; πίθου μεσσόθι φ. Hes. Op. 369; φ. ὃν εἶχε βίον (βίον by attraction to the relat.) Thgn. 908; ἰδίᾳ μὲν τῶν <ὄντων> φείδομαι δημοσίᾳ δὲ λῃτουργῶν ἥδομαι Lys. 21.16; φείδεσθε τοὐλαίου σφόδρα Pl. Com. 190: in this sense, most freq. with a negat., οὐ φ. not to spare, i.e. to use or give freely, οὐδέ νυ τοῦ περ [δέπαος] φείσατο Il. 24.236; μὴ φείδεο σίτου Hes. Op. 604; θνῄσκωμεν ψυχέων μηκέτι

2 to be sparing, live thriftily, thrifty, shrinking, shy, thrifty

abs., to be sparing, live thriftily, φείδεσθαι μὲν ἄμεινον Thgn. 931; τοὺς φειδομένους καὶ τοὺς ἀκριβῶς διαιτῶντας And. 4.32; οἱ γεωργοῦντες καὶ φ. D. 24.172, cf. Antipho Soph. 53; freq. in part. φειδόμενος, η, ον, thrifty, Ar. Pl. 247, 553 (anap.), etc.; ὄμμασι φειδομένοις with shrinking, shy eyes, AP 12.21 (Strat.), cf. 5.215 (Agath.), 268 (Id.); αἱ μὴ φ. (sc. μέλισσαι) the unthrifty ones, Arist. HA 627a20: also ἔπαινοι πάνυ πεφεισμένοι Luc. Hist.Conscr. 59; πεφιδημένα δάκτυλα Nonn. D. 12.392;

III have consideration for, pay, heed to

have consideration for, τῆς τοῦ λόγου συμμετρίας Plu. Cons.Apoll. 2.114b: with neg., pay no heed to, οὔτʼ ἀνθρώπων φείδεται οὔτε θεῶν AP 5.278 (Paul.Sil.), cf. 7.706 (Diog.).

IV draw back from, refrain from, spare, forbear

draw back from, refrain from, θαλάσσας Alc. Supp. 4.13 (prob.); κελεύθου Pi. N. 9.20; κινδύνου X. Cyr. 5.5.18; τᾶς θήρας Bion Fr. 10.12; τοῦ λέγειν, τοῦ ἀκολουθεῖν, X. Cyr. 1.6.19 (v.l.), HG 7.1.24; φείδου μηδὲν ὧνπερ ἐννοεῖς S. Aj. 115, cf. E. Med. 401, etc.; οὐδενὸς φεισάμενος οὔτε τῶν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς οὔτε τῶν πρὸς τοὺς πολίτας δικαίων SIG 708.36 (Istropolis, ii B.C.): (abs., μὴ φείδεσθε E. Tr. 1285; φείδου μηδέν Id. Hec. 1044; μὴ φείδου, εἴ τι ἔχεις διδάσκειν X. Cyr. 1.6.35): c. inf., spare t

V have mercy upon, to keep oneʼs hands off, spare, keep, off

in LXX, with Preps., φ. ἐπί τινι have mercy upon . ., LXX Je. 15.5, 21.7; ἐπί τινα Id. 28(51).3; φ. περί τινος to keep oneʼs hands off . . , 2 Ki. 12.6 (but φ. περὶ κακώσεως spare to hurt, ib. Si. 13.12); φ. ὑπὲρ τῆς κολοκύνθης Jn. 4.10; ἀπό τινος 1 Ki. 15.3, Ez. 24.21; φ. τι ἀπό τινος keep it off, Jb. 30.10; φ. τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπὸ θανάτου ib. 33.18, cf. Ps. 18(19).14; φειδεύμενοι (from contr. φειδέομαι) is cj. for φιλεύμεναι in Eus.Mynd. 17.

In the wild

6 of 137 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. φείδομαι (scan p. 1611; entry #6351). Root candidates: *b’eid-.
  • Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. φείδομαι (scan pp. 1971-1972; entry #5908).

Downloads

CC BY 4.0 with receipt attribution — every file carries its license line. What is exportable

Ask the librarian

Ask about φείδομαι →