LOGOI

The corpus record

σιγάω

sigao

keep silence

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

What it meant

σῑγάω · sigaō — LSJ

keep silence, hush! be still!

keep silence, used by Hom. only in imper. σίγα, hush! be still! Il. 14.90, Od. 17.393; σιγᾶν h.Merc. 93, Hdt. 8.61, 110; but freq. in Pi., Trag., and Att., as Pi. N. 10.29, A. Pr. 200, etc.; σ. περί τινος E. Hipp. 312; πρὸς οὓς δεῖ Pl. Phdr. 276a; πρὸς τοῦτο, ἐν τούτῳ, X. Cyr. 5.5.20, An. 5.6.27.

2 secret, mystical, was kept, all silent?

metaph. of things, σιγῶν δʼ ὄλεθρος καὶ μέγα φωνοῦντʼ . . ἀμαθύνει A. Eu. 935 (anap.); σύριγγες οὐ σιγῶσιν Id. Supp. 181; σίγησε δʼ αἰθήρ E. Ba. 1084; σ. πόντος, σ. ἀῆται, ἁ δʼ ἐμὰ οὐ σ. ἀνία Theoc. 2.38:—in E. Fr. 781.13, τὰ σιγῶντʼ ὀνόματʼ . . δαιμόνων seems to be = τὰ ἄρρητα, secret, mystical:—Pass., μέμψομαι σιωπὴν ὡς ἐσιλγήθη κακῶς I shall impute as a fault that silence was kept, Id. Supp. 298; also τί σεσίγηται δόμος Ἀδμήτου; why is it all silent? Id. Alc. 78; σιγῶντα λέγειν, λέγοντα σιγᾶν

II hold silent, keep secret, to be kept silent, secret, would never have been heard of

trans., hold silent, keep secret, Pi. Fr. 81, A. Pr. 106, 441, Ag. 36, Hdt. 7.104 (s. v. l.), etc.:—Pass., to be kept silent or secret, σεσιγαμένον χρῆμα Pi. O. 9.103; ὁ θάνατος . . ἐσιγήθη Hdt. 5.21; σιγώμενος S. Fr. 653; ἐσιγάθη δʼ ἂν ὑφορβός would never have been heard of, Theoc. 16.54.

In the wild

6 of 229 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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