LOGOI

The corpus record

θεσπέσιος

thespesios

divinely sounding, divinely sweet

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

Where it lives

  • Theogony 4 · 5.81/10k
  • Shield of Heracles 1 · 3.09/10k
  • Odyssey 16 · 1.84/10k
  • Iliad 20 · 1.79/10k
  • De Sensu et Sensibilibus 1 · 1.28/10k
  • Agamemnon 1 · 1.23/10k
  • Ars Poetica 1 · 0.99/10k
  • Euthydemus 1 · 0.8/10k
  • Republic 4 · 0.45/10k
  • Theaetetus 1 · 0.44/10k
  • Lives of Eminent Philosophers 1 · 0.09/10k
  • Histories 1 · 0.05/10k

What it meant — LSJ

divinely sounding, divinely sweet

divinely sounding, divinely sweet, ἀοιδή Il. 2.600; Σειρῆνες Od. 12.158; ἔπεα Pi. I. 4(3).39; ἀχέτας Ar. Av. 1095 (lyr.).

2 divinely uttered, decreed

divinely uttered or decreed, dat. sg. fem. θεσπεσίῃ as Adv., Il. 2.367.

b oracular, of divination, to the gods

oracular, γένος Pi. P. 12.13 (of the Graiae); δάφνα E. l.c.; θ. ὁδός the way of divination, of Cassandra, A. Ag. 1154 (lyr.); εὐχαῖς ὑπὸ θ. with prayers to the gods, Pi. I. 6(5).44.

c

= θεῖος, βηλός Il. 1.591; ἄντρον Od. 13.363.

II more than human, awful, marvellous, divinely sweet

more than human: hence, awful, of natural phenomena, θ. νέφος Il. 15.669; ἀχλύς Od. 7.42; λαῖλαψ 9.68; marvellous, χάρις 2.12; θ. ἄωτον, χαλκός, 9.434, Il. 2.457; θ. ὀδμή a smell divinely sweet, Od. 9.211; ὀσμὴ θ. Hermipp. 82.9; of human affairs, θ. φύζα, φόβος, Il. 9.2, 17.118; πλοῦτος 2.670; ἠχή 8.159; βοή Od. 24.49; θ. ὅμιλος Theoc. 15.66: also in Prose, τέχνη θ. τις καὶ ὑψηλή Pl. Euthd. 289e; θ. βίος Id. R. 365b; θ. καὶ ἡδεῖα ἡ διαγωγή ib. 558a; σοφοὶ καὶ θ. ἄνδρες Id. Tht. 151b, cf. Philost

III unspeakably, divinely

Adv. -ίως, θ. ἐφόβηθεν they trembled unspeakably, Il. 15.637: neut. θεσπέσιον as Adv., θ. ὑλᾶν Theoc. 25.70; also ἀπόζει θ. ὡς ἡδύ Hdt. 3.113; ὠδώδει θ. οἷον Plu. Alex. 20; θεσπεσίηθεν divinely, ἀρηρότα Emp. 96.4. —Chiefly Ep., once in Hdt., twice in Trag. (lyr.), once in Ar. (lyr.).

In the wild

6 of 52 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. θεσπέσιος (scan pp. 590-591; entry #2556).
  • Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. θεσπέσιος (scan p. 446; entry #3130).

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