The corpus record

ζόφος

zophos · ὁ

nether darkness

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

Where it lives

Jude 2 · 44.94/10k
2 Peter 2 · 18.47/10k
Ion 2 · 4.99/10k
Theogony 3 · 4.36/10k
Shield of Heracles 1 · 3.09/10k
Hebrews 1 · 1.99/10k
Persians 1 · 1.96/10k
De Mundo 1 · 1.58/10k
Odyssey 8 · 0.92/10k
Iliad 4 · 0.36/10k
Meditations 1 · 0.34/10k

What it meant — LSJ

nether darkness, the realms of gloom

nether darkness, ἱεμένων Ἔρεβόσδε ὑπὸ ζόφον Od. 20.356, cf. 11.155, Il. 21.56, Ep.Jud. 6; Ἀΐδης δʼ ἔλαχε ζόφον ἠερόεντα obtained the realms of gloom for his share, Il. 15.191, cf. Od. 11.57, h.Cer. 402, 446, etc.; γῆς ὑπὸ ζόφον A. Pers. 839.

2 gloom, darkness, the gloom

generally, gloom, darkness, Hes. Sc. 227, Plb. 18.20.7, Arist. Mu. 400a8, Ep.Hebr. 12.18, Plu. Alc. 28, Luc. DMort. 26[15].2; χειμέριος ζ. the gloom of winter, Pi. I. 4(3).18: metaph., τῆς ψυχῆς . . ζ. Plu. Aud. 2.48c.

II the dark quarter, the West, the North, the west

the dark quarter, i.e. the West, ἤδη γὰρ φάος οἴχεθʼ ὑπὸ ζόφον Od. 3.335; οὐ γὰρ ἴδμεν ὅπῃ ζ. οὐδʼ ὅπῃ ἠώς 10.190; ποτὶ ζόφον, opp. πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε, Il. 12.240, Od. 13.241, 9.26 (the North acc. to Str. 10.2.12); Γαδείρων τὸ πρὸς ζόφον to the west of . . , Pi. N. 4.69.—Poet. and later Prose. (Prob. cogn. with ζέφυρος.)

In the wild

ζόφον · zophon Aeschylus, Persians 839
ζόφου · zophou Aristotle, De Mundo (DIORISIS sentence 160)
ζόφον · zophon Shield of Heracles 226–227
ζόφου · zophou Theogony 649–653
ζόφου · zophou Theogony 658–660
ζόφῳ · zophōi Theogony 729–731

6 of 26 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. ζόφος (scan p. 549; entry #2402).
Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. ζόφος (scan p. 415; entry #2934).

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