euoi

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek εὐοῖ (euoî).

Interjection

euoi

1. A cry of impassioned rapture in ancient Bacchic revels.
   • 1909, Richard Edwin Day, New poems:

     Shall the warriors of Thebes be dumb? "Euoi! Euoi! Hail Bacchus!" They dance to the pipe and drum.

   • 1983, George Hitchcock, Kayak:

     Euoi! Curving vines, delicate tendrils from sinews and tendons. Euoi! Candle flames and sweet smoke sting, swarm with the sound of bees...

   • 2001, Ralph Ellis, K2: Quest of the Gods:

     The Bacchic cry of Euoi is not too dissimilar to Jesus' penultimate cry, while on the cross, of Eloi, Eloi.

   • 2003, Matthew Dillon, Girls and women in classical Greek religion:

     […] sexually aroused by them but never successful in their urge to debauch them. The maenads, Diodoros continues, cry out 'euoi' […]

Alternative forms

• evhoe, evoe, evohe