ἀπολύω

From ἀπο- (apo-, “from”) +‎ λῡ́ω (lū́ō, “to loosen”).

ἀπολῡ́ω • (apolū́ō)

1. to loose from
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 21.46
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 12.420
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.392
   1. to set free from, release or relieve from
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.30
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.3.47
      • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 365A
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 64E
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 1.9.8
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.70
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.56
      1. (law) to acquit
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.88
         • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 6.6.15
         • 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 571
         • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.174
         • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.95
         • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.128
         • 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 988–1000
         • 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Collected Works 159.43
2. (sole use in the Iliad) to let go free on receipt of ransom
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.95
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.115
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.50
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 4.8.21
   1. to let go, let alone, leave
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, The Coan Praenotions 210
3. to discharge or disband an army, dismiss
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 6.5.21, (compare Plato, Phaedo 67A)
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 1155
   1. to divorce a wife
      • New Testament, Matth. 1:19
      • 36 BCE – 30 BCE, Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library 12.18
   2. to do away with, remove
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Leptines 47, (compare Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 115.20)
   3. to discharge or pay a debt
      • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Cratylus 417B
   4. to dismiss a charge
      • 390 BCE – 322 BCE, Hyperides, In Defence of Euxenippus 47
      • 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 115.20
4. to sell
   • 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 131.39
   • 4th century BC, Isaeus, Collected Works 59.32
5. (middle voice) to redeem
   • Opp. C. 3.128
   1. to do away with calumnies against one
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.87
      • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 37B
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 5.75
      • 352 BCE, Demosthenes, For the Megalopolitans 2
      • 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 4
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.59
   2. to acquit of
      • 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 119.12
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 637C
      1. to release from
         • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Menexenus 245A
   3. to depart
      • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1314
6. (passive voice) to be released, let off
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.84
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.8
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.70
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.29
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 113D:

     καὶ ἐκεῖ οἰκοῦσι τε καὶ καθαιρόμενοι τῶν τε ἀδικημάτων διδόντες δίκας ἀπολύονται

     kaì ekeî oikoûsi te kaì kathairómenoi tôn te adikēmátōn didóntes díkas apolúontai

     and in that place they inhabit purifying themselves and allowing punishments of wrongdoing, they themselves are released

   1. to be separated, get clear, part
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.49
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 6.6.5
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 1.2.6
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Generation of Animals 3.3.7
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 2.1.41
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 4.8.7
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 4.9.2
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Fragments 300
      1. to depart
         • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1268
   2. (of a child) to be brought forth
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, Τοῦ μεγάλου Ἱπποκράτους πάντων τῶν ἰατρῶν κορυφαίου τὰ εὑρισκόμενα. Magni Hippocratis medicorum omnium facile principis, opera omnia quæ extant. 261.49
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, Τοῦ μεγάλου Ἱπποκράτους πάντων τῶν ἰατρῶν κορυφαίου τὰ εὑρισκόμενα. Magni Hippocratis medicorum omnium facile principis, opera omnia quæ extant. 1013E
   3. to be annulled
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 8.3.3

• 50 CE – 100 CE, The Gospel of Luke 2:29:

  Νῦν ἀπολύεις τὸν δοῦλόν σου, δέσποτα, κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου, ἐν εἰρήνῃ·

  Nûn apolúeis tòn doûlón sou, déspota, katà tò rhêmá sou, en eirḗnēi;

  Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word

• (to let go free on receipt of ransom): ἀπολυτρόω (apolutróō)

• “ἀπολύω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀπολύω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἀπολύω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἀπολύω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἀπολύω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἀπολύω in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• G630 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ἀπολύω in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften