ἐν

See also: εν, ἐν-, ἕν, ἔν, and Appendix:Variations of "en"

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ἔν (én) — accented
ἐνῐ́ (enĭ́), ἔνῐ (énĭ), εἰν (ein), εἰνῐ́ (einĭ́) — Epic, as necessary for meter
ἐνν (enn) — Aeolic, poetic
ἐμ (em)
ἰν (in) — Cypriot

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁én

From Proto-Indo-European *h₁én (“in”), cognate with Latin in, Old Armenian ի (i), Albanian një, English in.^[1]

The dative is from the Proto-Indo-European locative; the genitive is an innovated Greek associative; the accusative is from the pre-Proto-Indo-European directional.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /en/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /en/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /en/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /en/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /en/

The final nasal assimilated to a following stop or nasal, so that the word was pronounced as if it were spelled ἐμ /em/ if the next word began in a labial (β, μ, π, φ, ψ), or ἐγ [eŋ] if the next word began in a velar (γ, κ, ξ, χ).

Preposition

ἐν • (en) (governs the dative, genitive, and accusative)

(location) (with dative) in; on; at; (with dative plural) among
- c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 5.260–261 (wherein the first ἐν forms part of the phrasal adverb ἐν δ’ and αὐτῇ refers to σχεδίην in line 251):^[1]
  ἐν δ’ ὑπέρας τε κάλους τε πόδας τ’ ἐνέδησεν ἐν αὐτῇ,
  μοχλοῖσιν δ’ ἄρα τήν γε κατείρυσεν εἰς ἅλα δῖαν.
  en d’ hupéras te kálous te pódas t’ enédēsen en autēî,
  mokhloîsin d’ ára tḗn ge kateírusen eis hála dîan.
  1919 translation by Augustus Taber Murray^[2]
  And he made fast in the raft braces and halyards and sheets,
  and then with levers forced it down into the bright sea.
1. (elliptical, with genitive) in the house or the land of
2. surrounded by; wearing
  - c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.192:
    Ζεὺς δ’ ἔλαχ’ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἐν αἰθέρι καὶ νεφέλῃσι
    Zeùs d’ élakh’ ouranòn eurùn en aithéri kaì nephélēisi
    [Poseidon answering Iris:]
    and Zeus got the wide heaven surrounded by clear air and clouds
  - 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.159.3:
    ἐν τῇ δὲ ἐσθῆτι ἔτυχε ταῦτα κατεργασάμενος, ἀνέθηκε τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι πέμψας ἐς Βραγχίδας τὰς Μιλησίων.
    en tēî dè esthêti étukhe taûta katergasámenos, anéthēke tōî Apóllōni pémpsas es Brankhídas tàs Milēsíōn.
    The clothes that he happened to be wearing when he achieved this, Necos dedicated to Apollo and sent to the Branchidae of Miletos.
(time) in; at; or during the time of
1. [with ᾧ (hōî)]
  - 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.26.1:
    ἐν ᾧ δὲ οὗτοι τὸν προκείμενον πόνον ἐργάζοντο, ἐν τούτῳ ὁ πεζὸς ἅπας συλλελεγμένος ἅμα Ξέρξῃ ἐπορεύετο ἐς Σάρδις, […]
    en hōî dè hoûtoi tòn prokeímenon pónon ergázonto, en toútōi ho pezòs hápas sullelegménos háma Xérxēi eporeúeto es Sárdis, […]
    Translation by George Rawlinson
    During the time that all these labours were in progress, the land army which had been collected was marching with Xerxes towards Sardis, […]
  - c. 450 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 929–931 (with crasis):
    κἀν ᾧ τὸ κεῖσε δεῦρό τ’ ἐξορμώμεθα,
    ὁρῶμεν αὐτὴν ἀμφιπλῆγι φασγάνῳ
    πλευρὰν ὑφ’ ἧπαρ καὶ φρένας πεπληγμένην.
    kan hōî tò keîse deûró t’ exormṓmetha,
    horômen autḕn amphiplêgi phasgánōi
    pleuràn huph’ hêpar kaì phrénas peplēgménēn.
    (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

ἐν δέ (en dé, adverb)
ἐν- (en-, prefix)

Descendants

Greek: εν (en)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ἔν”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 419

Greek

Adverb

ἐν • (en)

polytonic spelling of εν (en, “in”)

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ἔν”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 419

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