ἑλληνίζω

From Ἕλλην (Héllēn, “Greek”) +‎ -ίζω (-ízō).

ἑλληνίζω • (hellēnízō)

1. to speak or write Greek (especially correct Greek)
   • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Meno 82b:

     Σωκράτης Ἕλλην μέν ἐστι καὶ ἑλληνίζει;
     Μένων πάνυ γε σφόδρα, οἰκογενής γε.

     Sōkrátēs Héllēn mén esti kaì hellēnízei?
     Ménōn pánu ge sphódra, oikogenḗs ge.

     Socrates: Is [the slave boy] a Greek and does he speak Greek?
     Meno: Very much so, in fact home-bred.

   • 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon 172
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Rhetoric 1407a19
   • 60 BCE – 7 BCE, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Letter to Pompey 2.5
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Charmides 159a
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 328a
   • 160 CE – 210 CE, Sextus Empiricus, Against the Mathematicians 1.186
   1. to be Greek
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations 182a34
   2. to speak common Greek (as opposed to the Attic dialect)
      • 316 BCE – 250 BCE, Posidippus Comicus, Harmost 28:

        σὺ μὲν ἀττικίζεις ... οἱ δ’ Ἕλληνες ἑλληνίζομεν

        sù mèn attikízeis ... hoi d’ Héllēnes hellēnízomen

        You speak Attic, but we Greeks speak Greek.

2. to make Greek, Hellenize
   • 93 CE – 94 CE, Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.6.1
   • 314 CE – 393 CE, Libanius, Orations 11.103

• Ἀφελληνίζω (Aphellēnízō)
• Ἐξελληνίζω (Exellēnízō)

• Greek: ελληνίζω (ellinízo)

• Ἀνελλήνιστος (Anellḗnistos)
• Ἑλληνισμός (Hellēnismós)
• Ἑλληνιστής (Hellēnistḗs)
• Ἑλληνιστί (Hellēnistí)

• “Ἑλληνίζω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἑλληνίζω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἑλληνίζω in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)