# δύναμαι
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* νῠ́νᾰμαι (nŭ́nămai) — Cretan

### Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *dunamai, from a nasal-infixed form of Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit together”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dý.na.mai̯/ → /ˈðy.na.mɛ/ → /ˈði.na.me/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /dý.na.mai̯/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈdy.na.mɛ/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈðy.na.mɛ/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈðy.na.me/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈði.na.me/

### Verb

δῠ́νᾰμαι • (dŭ́nămai); deponent
* (with infinitive) to be able, capable, strong enough to do, can
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.393
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 20.360
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.237
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.276
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.9
** 458 BCE, Aeschylus, The Eumenides 950
** 470 BCE, Aeschylus, The Suppliants 1036
** 408 BCE, Euripides, Orestes 889
** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.39
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.5
** 440 BCE – 390 BCE, Andocides, Collected Works 32.31
** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.105
** 445 BCE – 380 BCE, Lysias, Collected Works 107.26
** (of moral possibility) to be able, to dare, to bear to do
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.250
*** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 13.331, (compare Sophocles, Antigone 455)
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.130
** (with ὡς (hōs) and a superlative) as much as one can
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.50
*** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 367B
*** 385 BCE – 380 BCE, Plato, Symposium 214C
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Aphobus 1 3
*** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 2.6.2
*** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 2.2.9
* to pass for
** (of money) to be worth
*** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.5.6
*** 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, On Funerals 10
** (of numbers) to be equivalent, to equal
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.142
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.40
** (of words) to signify, mean
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.110.1
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.86.3
*** 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, Fragments 553
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.58
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Politics 5.11.6
*** 431 BCE, Euripides, Medea 128
*** 388 BCE, Aristophanes, Plutus 842
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.36
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.141
** (as a mathematical term) to be the root of a square number, to be the side of a square
*** 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Theaetetus 148B
*** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 546B
* (impersonal) it is possible, it can be
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.134
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 9.45

#### Derived terms

* δῠ́νᾰμῐς (dŭ́nămĭs, “ability, power, display of power”)
* δύνασις (dúnasis)
* δυνάστης (dunástēs)
* δυνατός (dunatós, “possible”)

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “δύναμαι”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 358

### Further reading

* “δύναμαι”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “δύναμαι”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “δύναμαι”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* δύναμαι in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* δύναμαι in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* δύναμαι in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
* “δύναμαι”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G1410 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible