# αἰτέω
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* αἴτημι (aítēmi) — Aeolic

### Etymology

A denominative of an unattested *αἶτος (*aîtos, “something given: allotment, share”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- (“to give, take”), whence also αἴνυμαι (aínumai), αἶσα (aîsa), αἴτιος (aítios), διαιτάω (diaitáō).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ai̯.té.ɔː/ → /ɛˈte.o/ → /eˈte.o/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /ai̯.té.ɔː/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ɛˈte.o/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ɛˈte.o/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /eˈte.o/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /eˈte.o/

### Verb

αἰτέω • (aitéō)
* (usually transitive) to ask for, crave, demand, beg [with accusative ‘something’; or with accusative ‘something’ and accusative ‘from someone’]; or with object omitted
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.358
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 17.365
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 10.17
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 20.74
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.17
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.295
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 2.387
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.1
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.114
** 6th century BC, Theognis of Megara, Elegies 556
** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.3.16
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 18.49
** 470 BCE, Aeschylus, The Suppliants 340
** (transitive) to ask for [with accusative ‘someone’ and infinitive ‘to do something’]
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 3.173
*** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1334
*** 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 65
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Eryxias 398E
** (logic, transitive) to postulate, assume
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Prior Analytics 1.24.2
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Topics 8.13.2
* (middle voice, transitive) to ask for oneself, for one's own use or purpose, to claim
** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 480
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.90
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.34
** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 822
** 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 112.41
** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers 480
** 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 778
** 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Collected Works 154.24
** 342 BCE – 290 BCE, Menander, Hymnis 5
** 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Collected Works 141.35
* (passive voice, of persons) to have a thing begged of one
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.111
** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.97
** 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Theocritus, Collected Works 14.63
** 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Isthmian Ode 8.10
** (of things) to be asked for
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.112
*** 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Collected Works 169.17

#### Synonyms

* (beg): δέομαι (déomai), αἰτίζω (aitízō)

#### Derived terms

* αἴτημα (aítēma)
* αἴτησις (aítēsis)
* αἰτητής (aitētḗs)
* αἰτητός (aitētós)
* αἰτίζω (aitízō)
* παραιτέομαι (paraitéomai)

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “αἰτέω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 45

### Further reading

* “αἰτέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “αἰτέω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “αἰτέω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* αἰτέω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* αἰτέω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* αἰτέω in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
* “αἰτέω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G154 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* “αἰτέω”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011