οἶκτος

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οἶκτος • (oîktos) m (genitive οἴκτου); second declension

1. pity, compassion
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 2.81:

     οἶκτος δ’ ἕλε λαὸν ἅπαντα

     oîktos d’ héle laòn hápanta

     pity took hold of the entire people

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.92:

     καὶ τὸν φρασθέντα τοῦτο οἶκτός τις ἴσχει ἀποκτεῖναι

     kaì tòn phrasthénta toûto oîktós tis ískhei apokteînai

     and a certain compassion kept the one saying this from killing

   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.40:

     μηδὲ τρισὶ τοῖς ἀξυμφορωτάτοις τῇ ἀρχῇ, οἴκτῳ καὶ ἡδονῇ λόγων καὶ ἐπιεικείᾳ, ἁμαρτάνειν

     mēdè trisì toîs axumphorōtátois tēî arkhēî, oíktōi kaì hēdonēî lógōn kaì epieikeíāi, hamartánein

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. wailing
   • 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 51:

     οἶκτος δ’ οὔτις ἦν διὰ στόμα

     oîktos d’ oútis ên dià stóma

     there was no wailing from a mouth

   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 411:

     τόνδε κλύουσαν οἶκτον

     tónde klúousan oîkton

     hearing this wailing

• (pity): ἐλεημοσῠ́νη (eleēmosŭ́nē), ἔλεος (éleos), ἐλεητύς (eleētús), οἰκτιρμός (oiktirmós)

• οἰκτίζω (oiktízō)
• ἄνοικτος (ánoiktos)

• οἴζω (oízō)
• οἰκτρός (oiktrós)
• οἰκτείρω (oikteírō)
• οἰκτιρμός (oiktirmós)

• “οἶκτος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press