νήπιος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The word is presumably the negative prefix νη-, but the stem is unclear. Strong's Greek Lexicon (1890) suggests νη- (nē-, negative prefix) +‎ ἔπος (épos, “speech”), compare Latin infans (“infant”) from in- (not) +‎ fāns (speaking). But a 2010 review by Beekes favors instead a derivation from ἤπιος, as suggested by Lacroix in 1937, with a possible PIE root *h2ep meaning 'join,' from which we would also have ἅπτω.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /nɛ̌ː.pi.os/ → /ˈni.pi.os/ → /ˈni.pi.os/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /nɛ̌ː.pi.os/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈne̝.pi.os/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈni.pi.os/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈni.pi.os/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈni.pi.os/

Adjective

νήπῐος • (nḗpios) m (feminine νηπῐ́ᾱ, neuter νήπῐον); first/second declension

1. childish, infantile, juvenile, young
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.440
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.136
   • 413 BCE, Euripides, Ion 1399
   • 425 BCE, Euripides, Andromache 755
   • 430 BCE, Euripides, Herakles' Children 956
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1340B.30
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1105A.2
   • 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 4.20.8
   • New Testament, Epistle to the Galatians 4:1
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, Epidemics 6.1.4
   • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Collected Works 17.826
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, Aphorisms 4.1
   1. (of animals)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.311
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.113
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 17.134
      • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 8.1.7
   2. (of the understanding) childish, untaught, silly, credulous
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 13.237
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.46
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.44
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.445
      • 490 BCE – 430 BCE, Empedocles, Collected Works 11.1
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 3.82
      • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 443
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Democritus, Collected Works 76
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 145
      • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 652
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Fragments 157
      • 431 BCE, Euripides, Medea 891
      • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 105
   3. (of bodily strength)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.561

Inflection

First and second declension of νήπῐος; νηπῐ́ᾱ; νήπῐον (Attic)

Number		Singular				Dual				Plural
Case/Gender		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative		νήπῐος nḗpios	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νήπῐον nḗpion		νηπῐ́ω nēpíō	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νηπῐ́ω nēpíō		νήπῐοι nḗpioi	νήπῐαι nḗpiai	νήπῐᾰ nḗpia
Genitive		νηπῐ́ου nēpíou	νηπῐ́ᾱς nēpíās	νηπῐ́ου nēpíou		νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin	νηπῐ́αιν nēpíain	νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin		νηπῐ́ων nēpíōn	νηπῐ́ων nēpíōn	νηπῐ́ων nēpíōn
Dative		νηπῐ́ῳ nēpíōi	νηπῐ́ᾳ nēpíāi	νηπῐ́ῳ nēpíōi		νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin	νηπῐ́αιν nēpíain	νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin		νηπῐ́οις nēpíois	νηπῐ́αις nēpíais	νηπῐ́οις nēpíois
Accusative		νήπῐον nḗpion	νηπῐ́ᾱν nēpíān	νήπῐον nḗpion		νηπῐ́ω nēpíō	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νηπῐ́ω nēpíō		νηπῐ́ους nēpíous	νηπῐ́ᾱς nēpíās	νήπῐᾰ nḗpia
Vocative		νήπῐε nḗpie	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νήπῐον nḗpion		νηπῐ́ω nēpíō	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νηπῐ́ω nēpíō		νήπῐοι nḗpioi	νήπῐαι nḗpiai	νήπῐᾰ nḗpia
Derived forms		Adverb				Comparative				Superlative
		νηπῐ́ως nēpíōs				νηπῐώτερος nēpiṓteros				νηπῐώτᾰτος nēpiṓtatos
Notes:		This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First and second declension of νήπῐος; νηπῐ́η; νήπῐον (Ionic)

Number		Singular				Dual				Plural
Case/Gender		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative		νήπῐος nḗpios	νηπῐ́η nēpíē	νήπῐον nḗpion		νηπῐ́ω nēpíō	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νηπῐ́ω nēpíō		νήπῐοι nḗpioi	νήπῐαι nḗpiai	νήπῐᾰ nḗpia
Genitive		νηπῐ́ου nēpíou	νηπῐ́ης nēpíēs	νηπῐ́ου nēpíou		νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin	νηπῐ́αιν nēpíain	νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin		νηπῐ́ων nēpíōn	νηπῐέων / νηπῐῶν nēpiéōn / nēpiôn	νηπῐ́ων nēpíōn
Dative		νηπῐ́ῳ nēpíōi	νηπῐ́ῃ nēpíēi	νηπῐ́ῳ nēpíōi		νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin	νηπῐ́αιν nēpíain	νηπῐ́οιν nēpíoin		νηπῐ́οισῐ / νηπῐ́οισῐν / νηπῐ́οις nēpíoisi(n) / nēpíois	νηπῐ́ῃσῐ / νηπῐ́ῃσῐν nēpíēisi(n)	νηπῐ́οισῐ / νηπῐ́οισῐν / νηπῐ́οις nēpíoisi(n) / nēpíois
Accusative		νήπῐον nḗpion	νηπῐ́ην nēpíēn	νήπῐον nḗpion		νηπῐ́ω nēpíō	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νηπῐ́ω nēpíō		νηπῐ́ους nēpíous	νηπῐ́ᾱς nēpíās	νήπῐᾰ nḗpia
Vocative		νήπῐε nḗpie	νηπῐ́η nēpíē	νήπῐον nḗpion		νηπῐ́ω nēpíō	νηπῐ́ᾱ nēpíā	νηπῐ́ω nēpíō		νήπῐοι nḗpioi	νήπῐαι nḗpiai	νήπῐᾰ nḗpia
Derived forms		Adverb				Comparative				Superlative
		νηπῐ́ως nēpíōs				νηπῐώτερος nēpiṓteros				νηπῐώτᾰτος nēpiṓtatos
Notes:		Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Noun

νήπῐος • (nḗpios) m (genitive νηπῐ́ου); second declension (Attic)

1. infant, child
   • 53 CE – 55 CE, Paul the Apostle, First Epistle to the Corinthians 13:11:

     ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος, ἐλάλουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐφρόνουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐλογιζόμην ὡς νήπιος· ὅτε γέγονα ἀνήρ, κατήργηκα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου.

     hóte ḗmēn nḗpios, eláloun hōs nḗpios, ephrónoun hōs nḗpios, elogizómēn hōs nḗpios; hóte gégona anḗr, katḗrgēka tà toû nēpíou.

     When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (KJV)

Declension

Second declension of ὁ νήπῐος; τοῦ νηπῐ́ου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ νήπῐος ho nḗpios	τὼ νηπῐ́ω tṑ nēpíō	οἱ νήπῐοι hoi nḗpioi
Genitive	τοῦ νηπῐ́ου toû nēpíou	τοῖν νηπῐ́οιν toîn nēpíoin	τῶν νηπῐ́ων tôn nēpíōn
Dative	τῷ νηπῐ́ῳ tôi nēpíōi	τοῖν νηπῐ́οιν toîn nēpíoin	τοῖς νηπῐ́οις toîs nēpíois
Accusative	τὸν νήπῐον tòn nḗpion	τὼ νηπῐ́ω tṑ nēpíō	τοὺς νηπῐ́ους toùs nēpíous
Vocative	νήπῐε nḗpie	νηπῐ́ω nēpíō	νήπῐοι nḗpioi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

References

• “νήπιος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “νήπιος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “νήπιος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• νήπιος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• νήπιος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “νήπιος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3516 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • babe idem, page 57.
  • child idem, page 129.
  • childish idem, page 130.
  • infant idem, page 437.
  • infantile idem, page 437.
  • little idem, page 495.
  • puerile idem, page 656.
  • young idem, page 997.