λύπη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Of uncertain origin. The traditional connection to Sanskrit लुप् (lup, “to break, tear apart”) can be dismissed, as the Sanskrit root is much more likely from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to break, tear up”), which cannot produce the Greek term.

Beekes tentatively prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel off”), whence Proto-Balto-Slavic *láupīˀtei (“to cause to bend; to peel”). While phonetically sound and semantically possible, the lack of evidence directly connecting the Greek sense of "grief, pain" to the hypothetical original "peeling, breaking" sense renders the etymology uncertain.^[1]

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ly̌ː.pɛː/ → /ˈly.pi/ → /ˈli.pi/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ly̌ː.pɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈly.pe̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈly.pi/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈly.pi/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈli.pi/

Noun

λῡ́πη • (lū́pē) f (genitive λῡ́πης); first declension

1. grief, sadness
2. pain (of mind or body), suffering, affliction, distress

   Antonym: ἡδονή (hēdonḗ)

Declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ λῡ́πη hē lū́pē	τὼ λῡ́πᾱ tṑ lū́pā	αἱ λῦπαι hai lûpai
Genitive	τῆς λῡ́πης tês lū́pēs	τοῖν λῡ́παιν toîn lū́pain	τῶν λῡπῶν tôn lūpôn
Dative	τῇ λῡ́πῃ têi lū́pēi	τοῖν λῡ́παιν toîn lū́pain	ταῖς λῡ́παις taîs lū́pais
Accusative	τὴν λῡ́πην tḕn lū́pēn	τὼ λῡ́πᾱ tṑ lū́pā	τᾱ̀ς λῡ́πᾱς tā̀s lū́pās
Vocative	λῡ́πη lū́pē	λῡ́πᾱ lū́pā	λῦπαι lûpai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ἡ λῡ́πη; τῆς λῡ́πης (Attic)

Derived terms

• ἄλῡπος (álūpos)
• λυπέω (lupéō)

 

Descendants

• Greek: λύπη (lýpi)

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “λῡ́πη”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 878-9

Further reading

• “λύπη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “λύπη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• λύπη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • ache idem, page 8.
  • affliction idem, page 17.
  • anguish idem, page 29.
  • annoyance idem, page 31.
  • bitterness idem, page 80.
  • distress idem, page 242.
  • misery idem, page 534.
  • pain idem, page 588.
  • pique idem, page 614.
  • sadness idem, page 730.
  • smart idem, page 786.
  • suffering idem, page 835.
  • tenderness idem, page 861.
  • torment idem, page 881.
  • torture idem, page 884.
  • trouble idem, page 897.
  • twinge idem, page 903.
  • unhappiness idem, page 920.
  • vexation idem, page 949.
  • woe idem, page 986.
  • worry idem, page 990.
  • wound idem, page 991.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek λύπη (lúpē).

Noun

λύπη • (lýpi) f (plural λύπες)

1. sorrow, sadness, unhappiness, suffering
2. pity, compassion
3. regret

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	λύπη (lýpi)	λύπες (lýpes)
genitive	λύπης (lýpis)	λυπών (lypón)
accusative	λύπη (lýpi)	λύπες (lýpes)
vocative	λύπη (lýpi)	λύπες (lýpes)

Synonyms

• (sorrow): θλίψη f (thlípsi), οδύνη f (odýni)

Related terms

• see: λυπώ (lypó, “to sadden”)

Further reading

• λύπη, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language