The corpus record

ζέω

zeo

boil, seethe

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

Where it lives

Theogony 3 · 4.36/10k
De Respiratione 2 · 3.29/10k
Seven Against Thebes 1 · 1.99/10k
Romans 1 · 1.43/10k
Machabaeorum IV 1 · 1.3/10k
Timaeus 3 · 1.27/10k
Phaedrus 2 · 1.2/10k
Oedipus at Colonus 1 · 0.97/10k
Job 1 · 0.75/10k
Ezechiel 2 · 0.69/10k
Philebus 1 · 0.57/10k
Acts 1 · 0.56/10k

Densest 12 of 22 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant — LSJ

boil, seethe, boils, to be fiery hot

boil, seethe, of water, ἐπεὶ δὴ ζέσσεν ὕδωρ ἐνὶ ἤνοπι χαλκῷ Il. 18.349, Od. 10.360; ὡς δὲ λέβης ζεῖ ἔνδον as the kettle boils, Il. 21.362, cf. E. Cyc. 343; rarely of solids, to be fiery hot, χθὼν ἔζεε Hes. Th. 695, 847; χαλκός Call. l.c.

2 ferment

ferment, Hp. VM 11; γλεύκους ζέοντος Dsc. 5.8.

3 boil, bubble up

metaph., boil or bubble up, τῆς θαλάσσης ζεσάσης Hdt. 7.188; αἷμα διὰ χρωτὸς ζέσσʼ AP 7.208 (Anyte); οἶνος ζεῖ Pl. Lg. 773d.

of passion, ὁπηνίκʼ ἔζει θυμός S. OC 434, cf. Pl. R. 440c, etc.; τὸ ζέον τῆς μάχης Hld. 1.33.

4 boil up, over with, boiling, teeming with

c. gen., boil up or over with a thing, λίμνη ζέουσα ὕδατος καὶ πηλοῦ Pl. Phd. 113a; πίθος ζ. [οἴνου] Thphr. HP 9.17.3; πεδία ζείοντʼ Ἀγαρηνῶν boiling, teeming with . . , APl. 16.39 (Arab.); of persons, ζ. σκωλήκων Luc. Alex. 59: c. dat., ζ. φθειρί Id. Sat. 26; ζ. φλογμῷ Lyc. 690; θάλαττα αἵματι καὶ ῥοθίῳ ζέουσα Aristid. 1.142J.

II make to boil, boil

causal, make to boil, boil, τοὶ δὲ λοετρὰ πυρὶ ζέον A.R. 3.273; θυμὸν ἐπὶ Τροίῃ πόσον ἔζεσας; AP 7.385 (Phil.).

2 exhale

exhale, ἀϋτμήν (v.l. -μῇ) A.R. 1.734. (ζέ(σ)-ω, cf. ζεσ-τός, Skt. yásati ‘boil’, OHG. jësan ‘ferment’, ‘foam’, Engl. yeast.)

In the wild

ζεῖ · zei Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 708
ζέσει · zesei Aristotle, De Respiratione (DIORISIS sentence 185)
ζέσει · zesei Aristotle, De Respiratione (DIORISIS sentence 186)
ἔζεσεν · ezesen Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1116b (DIORISIS sentence 932)
ζεσάντων · zesantōn Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 1.3 (DIORISIS sentence 530)
Ζεῦʼ · Zeuʼ Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 9.11 (DIORISIS sentence 8264)

6 of 37 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. ζέω (scan pp. 546-547; entry #2391). Root candidates: *ies-.
Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. ζέω (scan p. 414; entry #2918).

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