FromProto-Indo-European*h₁én(“in”), cognate withLatinin,Old Armenianի(i),Englishin.[1]The dative is from the PIE locative. The genitive is an innovated Greek associative. The accusative is from the pre-PIE directional.
The final nasal assimilated to a following stop or nasal, so that the word was pronounced as if it were spelledἐμ/em/ if the next word began in a labial (β, μ, π, φ, ψ), orἐγ[eŋ] if the next word began in a velar (γ, κ, ξ, χ).
ἐν• (en) (governs thedative,genitive, andaccusative)
- (location)(with dative)in,on,at;(with dative plural)among
800BCE – 600BCE,
Homer,
Odyssey5.260–261, (wherein the first
ἐν forms part of the phrasal adverb
ἐν δ’ and
αὐτῇ refers to
σχεδίην in line 251):
[1]- ἐν δ’ ὑπέρας τε κάλους τε πόδας τ’ ἐνέδησενἐν αὐτῇ,
μοχλοῖσιν δ’ ἄρα τήν γε κατείρυσεν εἰς ἅλα δῖαν.- en d’ hupéras te kálous te pódas t’ enédēsenen autēî,
mokhloîsin d’ ára tḗn ge kateírusen eis hála dîan.
- 1919 translation byAugustus Taber Murray[2]
- And he made fastin the raft braces and halyards and sheets,
and then with levers forced it down into the bright sea.
- (elliptical, with genitive) in the house or the land of
- surrounded by; wearing
800BCE – 600BCE,
Homer,
Iliad15.192:
- Ζεὺς δ’ ἔλαχ’ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺνἐν αἰθέρι καὶ νεφέλῃσι
- Zeùs d’ élakh’ ouranòn eurùnen aithéri kaì nephélēisi
- [Poseidon answering Iris:]
and Zeus got the wide heaven surrounded by clear air and clouds
Her.,
2 159:
- ἐν τῇ δὲἐσθῆτι ἔτυχε ταῦτα κατεργασάμενος, ἀνέθηκε τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι πέμψας ἐς Βραγχίδας τὰς Μιλησίων.
- en tēî dèesthêti étukhe taûta katergasámenos, anéthēke tōî Apóllōni pémpsas es Brankhídas tàs Milēsíōn.
- The clothes that he happenedto be wearing when he achieved this, Necos dedicated to Apollo and sent to the Branchidae of Miletos.
- (time) in, at, or during the time of
- “ἐν”, inLiddell & Scott (1940),A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “ἐν”, inLiddell & Scott (1889),An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “ἐν”, inAutenrieth, Georg (1891),A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- ἐν inBailly, Anatole (1935),Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- ἐν inCunliffe, Richard J. (1924),A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published1963
- ἐν in theDiccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
- “ἐν”, inSlater, William J. (1969),Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
- G1722 inStrong, James (1979),Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- ἐν inTrapp, 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
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910),English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language[3], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- amid idem, page 27.
- among idem, page 27.
- at idem, page 48.
- before idem, page 69.
- count idem, page 177.
- during idem, page 256.
- frequent idem, page 344.
- furthest idem, page 350.
- haunt idem, page 388.
- in idem, page 425.
- involve idem, page 458.
- mid idem, page 527.
- number idem, page 563.
- occupy idem, page 568.
- on idem, page 573.
- quarters idem, page 664.
- reckon idem, page 679.
- study idem, page 829.
ἐν• (en)
- polytonic spelling ofεν(en,“in”)
