# δεῖ
## Ancient Greek
### Etymology

Impersonal forms of δέω (déō, “to bind”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dêː/ → /ði/ → /ði/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /dêː/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /di/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ði/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ði/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ði/

### Verb

δεῖ • (deî)
* (with personal accusative and infinitive) it behoves one to, it is necessary to, one must
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.337
** 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Olympian Ode 6.48
** 343 BCE, Demosthenes, On the False Embassy 235
** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 556
** 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus
** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 3.4.35
** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Oeconomicus 7.20
** 484 BCE – 425 BCE, Herodotus, 1 8
** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 570
** (with impersonal accusative and infinitive)
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, 5 26
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.161
*** 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 825
** (when used in absolute an infinitive may be supplied)
*** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1442
*** Philetaerus Comicus, Ἀταλ. 1
* (with impersonal genitive) there is need of, there is wanting
** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 870
** 470 BCE, Aeschylus, The Suppliants 407
** (with a personal dative)
*** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 848
*** 431 BCE, Euripides, Medea 565
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.71
** (with personal accusative)
*** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 86
*** c. 440 BCE, Euripides, Rhesus 837
** (nominative, rare)
*** 423 BCE, Euripides, The Suppliants 594
*** 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 142.43
* (neuter participle, absolute use) it being needful, fitting
** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 355D
** 361 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Midias 90
** 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 989
** 484 BCE – 425 BCE, Herodotus, 3 65
** 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Fabius Maximus 9
** 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 2.37.5

#### Inflection

* Present indicative: δεῖ (deî)
* Present subjunctive: δέῃ (déēi), δῇ (dêi)
* Present optative: δέοι (déoi)
* Present infinitive: δεῖν (deîn)
* Present participle: δέον (déon), δεῖν (deîn)
* Imperfect: ἔδει (édei), ἔδεε (édee) (Ionic)
* Future: δεήσει (deḗsei)
* Aorist: ἐδέησε (edéēse)

### Further reading

* “δεῖ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “δεῖ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “δεῖ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* δεῖ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* δεῖ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* δεῖ in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
* “δεῖ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G1163 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. attach idem, page 49.bandage idem, page 60.be idem, page 66.bind idem, page 79.chain idem, page 122.cord idem, page 174.fasten idem, page 308.imprison idem, page 424.incumbent idem, page 431.lash idem, page 477.necessary idem, page 553.need idem, page 554.room idem, page 721.strap idem, page 823.tether idem, page 863.tie idem, page 874.