# ἀφίημι
## Ancient Greek
### Etymology

From ἀφ- (aph-, “from, away from”) + ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.pʰǐː.ɛː.mi/ → /aˈɸi.i.mi/ → /aˈfi.i.mi/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /a.pʰǐː.ɛː.mi/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /aˈpʰi.e̝.mi/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /aˈɸi.i.mi/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /aˈfi.i.mi/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /aˈfi.i.mi/

### Verb

ἀφῑ́ημῐ • (aphī́ēmĭ)
* to send forth, discharge, emit
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 10.372
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.432
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 8.133
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.18
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 373D
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.15
** 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 991
** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 731
** 458 BCE, Euripides, Electra 59
** 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 1324
** 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1088
** 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Lysis 222B
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 1.1.13
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 4.1.11
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 6.14.12
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 5.27.2
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 4.77
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.112
** to let fall from one's grasp
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 12.221
*** 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 2.508D
*** 424 BCE, Euripides, Hecuba 797
** (in prose) to send forth, dispatch
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.69
** to give up or hand over
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.106
*** 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 306
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.49
* to send away
** (of people)
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.25
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.263
*** to let go, loose, set free
**** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 20.464
**** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.139
**** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 591A
**** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 754
**** 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 320
**** 413 BCE, Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 739
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.157
*** to let go, dissolve, disband, break up, dismiss
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.77
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.122
**** 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 173
**** 391 BCE, Aristophanes, Assemblywomen 377
*** to put away, divorce
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.39
**** 425 BCE, Euripides, Andromache 973
**** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 8.14.4
*** to let go as an ἄφετος (áphetos)
**** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cynegeticus 5.14
**** 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Critias 116C
** (of things) to get rid of, shed, give up
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.642
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.126
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 13.444
*** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 315
*** 408 BCE, Euripides, Orestes 1022
*** 424 BCE, Euripides, Hecuba 571
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.206
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 5.78
*** (with πλοῖον (ploîon)) to set sail
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.42
*** (law) to remit, excuse
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.30
**** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.140
**** 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 1426
* to leave alone, pass by, not notice
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.95
** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1537
** 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 544
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.70
** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1279
** 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 887
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 2.6.10
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 9.4.6
** (with accusative and infitive) to donate to public property
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.13
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.194
* (with accusative and infinitive) to allow, let, permit
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.25
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1.1.16
    Antonym: ἐμποδίζω (empodízō)
* (seemingly intransitive) to break up, march, sail
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.193
** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.19
** (with infinitive) to give up doing
*** Diphil., Incert. 14
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1.6.4
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1.4.12
* (in middle voice) to send forth from oneself
** to loose something of one's own
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 23.240
** (often in Attic, with genitive) to let go of
*** 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1521
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.60
*** 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 458C
*** 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Collected Works 25.22
*** 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 146B
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Poetics 5.6

#### Derived terms

* ἀνταφίημι (antaphíēmi)
* διαφίημι (diaphíēmi)
* εἰσαφίημι (eisaphíēmi)
* ἐναφίημι (enaphíēmi)
* ἐξαφίημι (exaphíēmi)
* ἐπαφίημι (epaphíēmi)
* καταφίημι (kataphíēmi)
* παραφίημι (paraphíēmi)
* προαφίημι (proaphíēmi)
* προσαφίημι (prosaphíēmi)
* συναφίημι (sunaphíēmi)

#### Related terms

* ἄφεμα (áphema)
* ἀφέσιμος (aphésimos)
* ἄφεσις (áphesis)
* ἀφετέον (aphetéon)
* ἀφετήρ (aphetḗr)
* ἀφετήριος (aphetḗrios)
* ἀφέτης (aphétēs)
* ἀφετικός (aphetikós)
* ἄφετος (áphetos)

#### Descendants

* Greek: αφήνω (afíno)
* Greek: αφετηρία (afetiría)

### References

* “ἀφίημι”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “ἀφίημι”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “ἀφίημι”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* ἀφίημι in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* ἀφίημι in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* ἀφίημι in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
* “ἀφίημι”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G863 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible