# ἁμαρτάνω
## Ancient Greek
### Etymology

Although there are no known cognates, Beekes nonetheless reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂mert- (“miss, fail”) as the ancestor of this word.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ha.mar.tá.nɔː/ → /a.marˈta.no/ → /a.marˈta.no/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /ha.mar.tá.nɔː/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /(h)a.marˈta.no/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /a.marˈta.no/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /a.marˈta.no/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /a.marˈta.no/

### Verb

ᾰ̔μᾰρτᾰ́νω • (hămărtắnō)
* (transitive, intransitive) to miss, miss the mark, especially of a thrown spear [with genitive ‘something’]
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.287
** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Fragments 179, (Compare Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1194)
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 10.372
** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 155
** 388 BCE, Aristophanes, Plutus 961
** 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 124.26
** (transitive, intransitive) to fail at, miss one's point, go wrong in [with genitive ‘something’]
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 21.155
*** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1194
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.292
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 11.511
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.207
*** 431 BCE, Euripides, Medea 498
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.33.92
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.71
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.139
** (transitive) to be deprived of, to lose [with genitive ‘something’]
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.512
*** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 535
*** 438 BCE, Euripides, Alcestis 879
*** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 231
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.7
*** 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, Collected Works 4.2
** (rarely transitive) to fail to do, neglect [with genitive ‘something’]
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.68
*** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 213
* (intransitive) to fail, do wrong, err, sin
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.501
** Simonides of Ceos, Iamb. 7.111
** 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 260
** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 1207
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 336E
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 340E
** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Women of Trachis 1136
** 408 BCE, Euripides, Orestes 1630
** 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 489B
** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 396A
** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1093–1096:οὐκ ἄν ποτ’, ἄνδρες, ἄνδρα θαυμάσαιμ’ ἔτι, / ὃς μηδὲν ὢν γοναῖσιν εἶθ’ ἁμαρτάνει, / ὅθ’ οἱ δοκοῦντες εὐγενεῖς πεφυκέναι / τοιαῦθ’ ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐν λόγοις ἔπη·ouk án pot’, ándres, ándra thaumásaim’ éti, / hòs mēdèn ṑn gonaîsin eîth’ hamartánei, / hóth’ hoi dokoûntes eugeneîs pephukénai / toiaûth’ hamartánousin en lógois épē;1893 translation by Sir Richard JebbNever again, my fellow Salaminians, will I be amazed if some nobody by birth does wrong, when those who are reputed to be born of noble blood employ such wrongful sentiments in their arguments.
** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 1249
** 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 320
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 22.154
** 470 BCE, Aeschylus, The Suppliants 915
** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 3.1.40
** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 891E
** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 242E
** 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 140.13
** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 4.5.3
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.138
** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 968
** 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Fragments 419
** 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 121.41

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “miss a target, fail”): τυγχάνω (tunkhánō)

#### Derived terms

* ἁμαρτάς (hamartás)
* ἁμάρτημα (hamártēma)
* ἁμαρτίᾱ (hamartíā)
* ἁμάρτιον (hamártion)
* ἁμαρτωλή (hamartōlḗ)
* ἁμαρτωλός (hamartōlós)
* ἀναμάρτητος (anamártētos)
* ἀφαμαρτάνω (aphamartánō)
* διαμαρτάνω (diamartánō)
* διαμαρτίᾱ (diamartíā)
* ἐξαμαρτάνω (examartánō)
* ἡμαρτημένως (hēmartēménōs)
* νημερτής (nēmertḗs)
* συνεξαμαρτάνω (sunexamartánō)

### Further reading

* “ἁμαρτάνω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “ἁμαρτάνω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “ἁμαρτάνω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* ἁμαρτάνω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* ἁμαρτάνω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* ἁμαρτάνω in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
* “ἁμαρτάνω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G264 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible