ἑξάμετρος

From ἑξᾰ- (hexă-, “six”) +‎ μέτρον (métron, “meter”) +‎ -ος (-os).

ἑξᾰ́μετρος • (hexắmetros) m or f (neuter ἑξᾰ́μετρον); second declension (Attic, Ionic, Koine)

1. Expressed in dactylic hexameter and the Epic dialect: hexametric
   • 484 BCE – 425 BCE, Herodotus, 7 220.3:

     ταῦτα δέ σφι ἐν ἔπεσι ἑξαμέτροισι χρᾷ λέγοντα ὧδε.
     ὑμῖν δ’, ὦ Σπάρτης οἰκήτορες εὐρυχόροιο

     taûta dé sphi en épesi hexamétroisi khrāî légonta hôde.
     humîn d’, ô Spártēs oikḗtores eurukhóroio

     [The Pythia] uttered this to them in hexametric verses, and it went as follows:
     You, inhabitants of spacious Sparta […]

   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 810d:

     λέγω μὴν ὅτι ποιηταί τε ἡμῖν εἰσίν τινες ἐπῶν ἑξαμέτρων πάμπολλοι καὶ τριμέτρων καὶ πάντων δὴ τῶν λεγομένων μέτρων

     légō mḕn hóti poiētaí te hēmîn eisín tines epôn hexamétrōn pámpolloi kaì trimétrōn kaì pántōn dḕ tôn legoménōn métrōn

     I do say that we have very many poets of hexametric and trimetric verse and of all meters that are spoken of […]

   • 350 BCE – 280 BCE, Demetrius of Phalerum, On Style 1

Most often in the phrase ἔπεᾰ (épeă) or ἔπη ἐξᾰ́μετρᾰ (épē exắmetră, “hexametric verse”).

• ἑξᾰ́μετρᾰ (hexắmetră)

• “ἑξάμετρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἑξάμετρος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)