κάμπτω

• γνάμπτω (gnámptō) — Homeric, only in compounds in tmesis
• καμπύλλω (kampúllō) — Ionic

From Proto-Hellenic *kámptō, *kamptos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp- (“to bend, curve”), possibly related to Latin campus and Lithuanian kampas, kumpas. Beekes argues for a Pre-Greek or European substrate origin for the root.^[1] Compare Latin cambiāre, Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Spanish cambiar, Occitan cambiar, Catalan canviar, Norman changier, Sicilian cangiari, French changer, and English change.

κάμπτω • (kámptō)

1. to bend, curve
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.486:

     ὄφρα ἴτυν κάμψῃ περικαλλέϊ δίφρῳ

     óphra ítun kámpsēi perikalléï díphrōi

     in order that he might bend himself a felloe for a beauteous chariot

   1. (figuratively)
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 2.51:

        θεός, ὃ […] καὶ ὑψιφρόνων τιν’ ἔκαμψε βροτῶν

        theós, hò […] kaì hupsiphrónōn tin’ ékampse brotôn

        the gods, who […] bend down many a man who is overly ambitious

      • 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 173b:

        τρεπόμενοι πολλὰ κάμπτονται καὶ συγκλῶνται

        trepómenoi pollà kámptontai kaì sunklôntai

        so that they become greatly bent and stunted

2. (transitive, intransitive) to turn
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 744:

     ἔπειτα λύων ἡνίαν ἀριστερὰν κάμπτοντος ἵππου

     épeita lúōn hēnían aristeràn kámptontos híppou

     But then he slackened his left rein while the horse was turning

   1. (figuratively)
      • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 91:

        ἐνταῦθα κάμψειν τὸν ταλαίπωρον βίον

        entaûtha kámpsein tòn talaípōron bíon

        there I should close my weary life

      • 423 BCE, Euripides, The Suppliants 748:

        ἔχουσαι διὰ λόγου κάμψαι κακά

        ékhousai dià lógou kámpsai kaká

        though you might by parley end your ills

      • 5th century BC, Pherecrates, Fragmenta 145.15
3. (nautical) to double (sail around)
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.42.4:

     τρίτῳ ἔτεϊ κάμψαντες Ἡρακλέας στήλας ἀπίκοντο ἐς Αἴγυπτον

     trítōi éteï kámpsantes Hērakléas stḗlas apíkonto es Aígupton

     it was in the third [year] that they doubled the pillars of Heracles and came to Egypt

• “κάμπτω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κάμπτω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “κάμπτω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• κάμπτω 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
• κάμπτω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “κάμπτω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2578 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

From Ancient Greek κάμπτω

• IPA^(key): /ˈkam.pto/, /ˈkam.to/
• Hyphenation: κάμ‧πτω

κάμπτω • (kámpto) (past έκαμψα, passive κάμπτομαι)

1. (transitive) to bend, to curve
2. (transitive, figuratively) to bend, to cause to yield (to force to submit)

• λυγίζω (lygízo)

Verb-compounds (and see their derivatives)

• ανακάμπτω (anakámpto, “reappear, recover”)
• επανακάμπτω (epanakámpto, “return, reappear again”)
• παρακάμπτω (parakámpto, “bypass, override”)