ὅπλον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *sop-lo- (“instrument”), an o-grade l-suffixed formation from *sep- (“to care for, honor, prepare”); see the related ἕπω (hépō, “I am busy”) for cognates. Not related to ἕπομαι (hépomai, “I follow”).

For the relation with ὁπλή (hoplḗ), compare typologically Russian копьё (kopʹjó), копы́то (kopýto), копа́ть (kopátʹ). See also ὄρυξ (órux).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hó.plon/ → /ˈo.plon/ → /ˈo.plon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hó.plon/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)o.plon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.plon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.plon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈo.plon/

Noun

ὅπλον • (hóplon) n (genitive ὅπλου); second declension

1. tool, instrument
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 18.408–409:

     ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν νῦν οἱ παράθες ξεινήϊα καλά,
     ὄφρ’ ἂν ἐγὼ φύσας ἀποθείομαι ὅπλά τε πάντα.

     allà sù mèn nûn hoi paráthes xeinḗïa kalá,
     óphr’ àn egṑ phúsas apotheíomai hóplá te pánta.

     • Translation by Samuel Butler

       […] I must make her due requital for having saved me; entertain her, therefore, with all hospitality, while I put by my bellows and all my tools.

2. (often in the plural) a ship's tackle, rope
3. (often in the plural) instruments of war: arms, armour, weapon
   1. (in the plural) place of arms, camp
4. (humorous) penis
   • Anthologia Graeca, 16 242:s:el:Ελληνική Ανθολογία/XVI/242 Ερυκίου

     Ὡς βαρὺ τοῦτο, Πρίηπε, καὶ εὖ τετυλωμένον ὅπλον πᾶν ἀπὸ βουβώνων ἀθρόον ἐκκέχυκας
     εἰς γάμον οὐκ ἀνέτοιμον· […]

     Hōs barù toûto, Príēpe, kaì eû tetulōménon hóplon pân apò boubṓnōn athróon ekkékhukas
     eis gámon ouk anétoimon; […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 500 CE, Hesychius Alexandreus, Συναγωγὴ Πασῶν Λέξεων κατὰ Στοιχεῖον Ο:

     <ὅπλον>: ἔνδυμα πολεμικόν. καὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον

     <ὅπλον>énduma polemikón. kaì tò aidoîon

     ὅπλον: military garment; also "shame"

5. a gymnastics exercise

Declension

Second declension of τὸ ὅπλον; τοῦ ὅπλου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ὅπλον tò hóplon	τὼ ὅπλω tṑ hóplō	τᾰ̀ ὅπλᾰ tằ hóplă
Genitive	τοῦ ὅπλου toû hóplou	τοῖν ὅπλοιν toîn hóploin	τῶν ὅπλων tôn hóplōn
Dative	τῷ ὅπλῳ tōî hóplōi	τοῖν ὅπλοιν toîn hóploin	τοῖς ὅπλοις toîs hóplois
Accusative	τὸ ὅπλον tò hóplon	τὼ ὅπλω tṑ hóplō	τᾰ̀ ὅπλᾰ tằ hóplă
Vocative	ὅπλον hóplon	ὅπλω hóplō	ὅπλᾰ hóplă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ὁπλή (hoplḗ)
• ὁπλίζω (hoplízō)
• ὁπλῑ́της (hoplī́tēs)
• ὁπλοφῠ́λᾰξ (hoplophŭ́lăx)

Descendants

• Albanian: aplladhe
• English: hopl-
• Greek: όπλο (óplo, “gun”)
• ⇒ Translingual: Hoplia

Further reading

• “ὅπλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὅπλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ὅπλον”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• “ὅπλον” in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001), A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ὅπλον in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ὅπλον”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3696 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.
  • arm idem, page 40.
  • weapon idem, page 970.