ἔλεος

See also: ἐλεός and έλεος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unclear. Could be related to ἐλελεῦ (eleleû, “woe, alas”), which is likely expressive or onomatopoeic.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /é.le.os/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈe.le.os/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈe.le.os/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈe.le.os/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈe.le.os/

Noun

ἔλεος • (éleos) m (genitive ἐλέου); second declension
ἔλεος • (éleos) n (genitive ἐλέεος or ἐλέους); third declension (Epic, Attic, Koine)

pity, mercy, compassion
object of pity

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ἔλεος; τοῦ ἐλέου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἔλεος ho éleos	τὼ ἐλέω tṑ eléō	οἱ ἔλεοι hoi éleoi
Genitive	τοῦ ἐλέου toû eléou	τοῖν ἐλέοιν toîn eléoin	τῶν ἐλέων tôn eléōn
Dative	τῷ ἐλέῳ tōî eléōi	τοῖν ἐλέοιν toîn eléoin	τοῖς ἐλέοις toîs eléois
Accusative	τὸν ἔλεον tòn éleon	τὼ ἐλέω tṑ eléō	τοὺς ἐλέους toùs eléous
Vocative	ἔλεε élee	ἐλέω eléō	ἔλεοι éleoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of τὸ ἔλεος; τοῦ ἐλέους (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ἔλεος tò éleos	τὼ ἐλέει tṑ eléei	τᾰ̀ ἐλέη tằ eléē
Genitive	τοῦ ἐλέους toû eléous	τοῖν ἐλεοῖν toîn eleoîn	τῶν ἐλεῶν tôn eleôn
Dative	τῷ ἐλέει tōî eléei	τοῖν ἐλεοῖν toîn eleoîn	τοῖς ἐλέεσῐ / ἐλέεσῐν toîs eléesĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸ ἔλεος tò éleos	τὼ ἐλέει tṑ eléei	τᾰ̀ ἐλέη tằ eléē
Vocative	ἔλεος éleos	ἐλέει eléei	ἐλέη eléē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἐλεέω (eleéō)
νηλεής (nēleḗs)

Descendants

Greek: έλεος (éleos)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἔλεος 1”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 407

“ἔλεος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ἔλεος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“ἔλεος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
ἔλεος 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
ἔλεος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
ἔλεος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
G1656 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- bowels idem, page 92.
- clemency idem, page 137.
- commiseration idem, page 148.
- compassion idem, page 150.
- compunction idem, page 154.
- condolence idem, page 157.
- mercy idem, page 525.
- pitifulness idem, page 615.
- pity idem, page 615.
- remorse idem, page 693.
- sentiment idem, page 754.
- sympathy idem, page 850.
ἔλεος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἔλεος 1”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 407

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