The corpus record

σᾰφην-ίζω

saphenizo

make clear

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

Where it lives

Prometheus Bound 2 · 3.4/10k
Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 1 · 2.06/10k
Libation Bearers 1 · 1.86/10k
Economics 1 · 0.56/10k
Memorabilia 2 · 0.56/10k
Cyropaedia 4 · 0.51/10k
Rhetoric 1 · 0.23/10k
Hellenica 1 · 0.15/10k
Enneads 1 · 0.05/10k

What it meant — LSJ

make clear, plain, determine

make clear or plain, τοῦτο δὴ σαφηνιῶ ib. 227, cf. 621; ἐξιστορήσας καὶ σαφηνίσας ὁδόν A. Ch. 678; σ. τοὺς κρατιστεύοντας X. Cyr. 8.4.5; τὴν παιδείαν Id. Lac. 2.1, cf. Mem. 4.3.4, 4.7.6; σ. τὴν βασιλείαν determine the succession, Id. Cyr. 8.7.9.

2 articulate clearly

abs., articulate clearly, Hp. Carn. 18; τῇ φωνῇ Arist. HA 633a12, cf. Pr. 888b10, 902a6.

In the wild

σαφηνίσας · saphēnisas Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 675–678
σαφηνιῶ · saphēniō Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 228–229
σαφηνίσας · saphēnisas Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 621
σαφηνιεῖ · saphēniei Aristotle, Rhetoric 3
σαφηνισθεὶς · saphēnistheis Plotinus, Enneads 5.1 (DIORISIS sentence 3550)
σαφηνίσαι · saphēnisai Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 2.1 (DIORISIS sentence 21)

6 of 14 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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